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Jan. 3, 2001
By Janelle Holden New lines and fewer lanes at the intersection of Main and Broadway streets in Cortez have some residents questioning where to drive. "Someone with a bucket of white paint has made a mess at the intersection of Main and Broadway here in Cortez," complained Thomas Campbell in a letter to the editor published in the Dec. 25 Journal. The "someone" Campbell refers to is the Colorado Department of Transportation, which restriped the intersection residents call the West Y just before Christmas. Although the project has not been completed, most of the major changes to the intersection are finished. Dick Langoni, a traffic-operations engineer with CDOT who is overseeing the project, said yield signs on U.S. Highway 666 southbound have yet to be put up, and due to cold weather, pavement markings have not been completed. CDOT also plans to change one marking that has caused considerable confusion. A solid white line that prevents drivers from entering Keesee Motor Company from Main Street will be changed to a dashed line, said Langoni. The major changes CDOT made to the intersection include merging two lanes of westbound U.S. Highway 160 traffic into one before it merges with U.S. Highway 666 south. "We had a lot of conflict points because of the number of lanes merging at that point, so we talked with the city and in collaboration with the city, this is what we came up with," said Langoni. Drivers northbound on Highway 666 need to stay in the left lane, because the right lane now turns into a right-turn-only lane to access Piñon Drive to the south. CDOT is also making drivers merge into one lane on Piñon Drive before Montezuma Avenue, by making the right northbound lane into a right-turn-only onto Montezuma. Also from Arbecam Street, one can only turn right, or north, onto Highway 666. "By combining all of these different merge movements into one on each highway it reduces the number of conflicts dramatically," said Langoni. Langoni said the city asked CDOT to look at the intersection and make needed safety improvements. "The problem we had was the traffic coming on Piñon merging into Broadway," explained Cortez public-works director Bruce Smart. "People are having to look back over their shoulder to see, and as you’re doing that sometimes people would stop in front of you because they felt it was not safe, and if you’re looking behind you, you don’t see the one in front of you. It became a real problem and there was not enough traffic that you had to have two lanes through there. We felt a continuous merge is a lot safer there." Since the changes, Smart said he’s heard both positive and negative comments from residents. "A lot of people that I’ve talked to like the new way because it eliminates that congestion merge as you’re coming from the north off Broadway and merging into Main Street. Before, it was real touchy on how to get in there, and people feel more secure having two lanes coming together without having to merge one lane into two lanes," said Smart. Smart said the changes should help what he calls a "dangerous" situation, but said major changes will be needed at the intersection before the problem is solved. "I think CDOT is trying to make it more standard and safer for everyone. It hasn’t cured all, that’s for sure. It’s helped some and caused different problems," said Smart. Langoni said when all the changes are through, the intersection should be much safer for drivers. "I think when the smoke clears on all of this, and people get to see what we’re doing on it, I think they’ll see that it’s a lot safer," he said.
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
