Is it the Road's Fault?

We are nearing completion of the 4-lane project for 9-Mile road in Beulah.  Some residents have noticed some issues....But overall the project is a vast improvement over where we were 5 years ago!

It's now been about a month, give or take a day or two,  since all four lanes of 9-Mile Road from Exit 5 to Beulah road have been opened up to traffic.  The project is not yet totally completed, as there are landscaping and striping and some other resurfacing activities that will be happening---but the majority of the project and the biggest positive benefit ---the 4 lanes being open---have happened.

For the most part and from the best I can tell---- the reception has been very good.  I know I love it as it definitely has made my commute easier and the traffic less significant in the morning and afternoon particularly.

--Even at 5:00 on a weekday---the traffic exiting from I-10 headed west onto exit 5 from the afternoon comute is no longer baking cars up dangerously onto the shoulder of I-10 eastward one mile back toward Pine Forest Road.  That, is a GREAT thing.

--Traffic is moving the two miles or so between exit 5 and Beulah road very fluidly in the afternoons

--Traffic going Eastbound on 9 Mile Road in the mornings from Beulah Road to exit 5 is moving very smoothly as well.

But there are some kinks some have reported to me and that I have noticed that can hopefully be worked out as we move toward completing this project:

--The timing of the signals at Heritage Oaks and Navy Federal Way are not optimized--(e.g. they apparently run all weekend on the same pattern as the weekday--even though NFCU employees, by and large, are not as big of a presence on the weekends.  One resident has asked:  "Why can't we make those signals flashing "yellow" for the 48 hours of the weekend going east and west on 9-mile when hardly any traffic is coming out of the NFCU campus;  give the outgoing cars a flashing "red" on Navy Federal Way and Heritage Oaks?  Sounds reasonable to me.

--The barrels at Beulah Road and 9 Mile create what to some motorists appears to be a view hazard or blind spot.  Four days ago, a sedan pulled out in front of a motorcycle at that very spot and there was a

fatality and a serious injury as a result.  (I'm not sure the barrels factored into that particular crash--but they are a distraction and constituents have noticed this and some have stated to me they believe it creates a blind spot.  Those barrels, to the extent they can be---- need to be pulled out of there yesterday!)

--The newly installed light at exit 5 creates a bit of a difficult situation in the morning commute as when it signals a green arrow for traffic entering the 1-10 onramp Eastbound from westbound 9-Mile road----it dumps loads of cars all at once onto the onramp directly into a merge lane with cars entering the onramp at speed from westbound 9-Mile road.  This has created some close calls when this slow traffic attempts to merge with the fast movers as all cars attempt to get to the Interstate and merge with that traffic.  It is dangerous.  It's a new dynamic that drivers are dealing with.

--The typical "fast lane" on a roadway like this is the left lane.  Everybody knows this.  But the folks, by and large, using the left lane are folks trying to slow down to take left turns into either Nature Trail, Bell Ridge Forest, or one of the other residential streets on the south side of 9-Mile Road between Heritage Oaks and Beulah Road. There is no place to turn right in that same stretch of roadway (save for Security Place-another secondary entrance into NFCU's campus very close to Heritage Oaks Blvd.  So fast lane speeders going through this stretch of roadway are getting in the left lane and tailgating folks slowing down to turn into a residential subdivision or street--creating some tension and angry "right-lane" passers that then cut back in front of the driver in the left lane--sometimes aggressively and often with no signal.   The Solution:  The "fast lane" between Heritage Oaks/Security Place and the mile and a half to Beulah Road is the RIGHT LANE---not the LEFT LANE.

--Another serious accident happened at Bell Ridge Drive and 9-Mile Road on August 3rd.  Apparently, an ECUA Trash Truck was sitting in the median attempting to go left (west) on 9-Mile road--but the back of the truck was extended into the roadway in the Eastbound lane--and two other vehicles collided with the back of the trash truck in rapid succession.  This one is being investigated and I'm not sure who will be charged--but some citizens on facebook chat sites attempted to blame the "engineers" for the "bad design" which "caused" that crash.  Uh, I don't buy that.   These engineers design these roadways to rigorous standards utilizing their skill, expertise, experience, and knowledge.  Some angry residents think the engineers should have consulted with them, personally, on this road.  Uh, okay...Here's what is actually logical: if you don't fit in the median (truck, bus, RV)--don't pull out until you can safely make the left turn completely.  Or better yet, make a right turn and then make a u-turn when it is safe to do so further down the road when it is safe.  Conversely---if you are coming the other direction and see someone sticking out into the roadway--you have to slow down.  

But blaming the road engineers for the traffic colissions is unhelpful.

The four laned 9-Mile road and all the improvements are great--we all just have to get used to the differences and drive carefully and defensively.  It's a huge improvement over how this road was 5 years ago.  Huge improvement.