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Failing Intersections
11/14/08
Coming soon to an intersection near you!
Failing intersections receive a lot of attention in the City of Grants Pass… especially as they pertain to land development proposals. Typically, a failing intersection = “need to install a traffic light.” Most of the time, people agree a light would greatly improve intersection safety and reduce the amount of wait time.
Last week, I was reminded that traffic lights are not always the answer. I was driving on the Grants Pass Parkway, and as we know all too well, signal timing on the Parkway is less than perfect. I can count on one… maybe half-of-one hand the number of times the so-called “expressway” has allowed me to traverse even half the distance of the Parkway without a red light. So back to last week- I was driving east and as I rounded the corner near the new public safety station, I noticed the traffic light at Parkdale and Parkway was flashing red. “LONG WAIT,” I thought to myself… assuming traffic does not function WITH the lights and only imagining how long I would have to wait without the light.
I was greatly surprised. It turned out that a good old-fashioned four-way-stop method, combined with a little community courtesy, worked incredibly well! And this was no ordinary four-way stop… is was highly technical by traffic engineering standards, but that was where the community courtesy came in. With just a little patience, we all ended up waiting less time than we would have with a working signal.
Okay- so it would be impractical to expect the four-way-stop method to always work on roads with such high traffic volumes, and it does hinder fuel economy, BUT it certainly makes a good case for Roundabouts.
More on roundabouts later but I never miss an opportunity to suggest roundabouts as a timely idea for Grants Pass.
What are your thoughts?
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Pre-paid Planning Services
How much time would you save if you could get answers to all your land use and development questions without standing in line at the Planning Office or waiting for a return phone call from the staff planner?
- Permitted Uses
- Setbacks
- Permits
- Development Potential
- Violations
- Hidden Development Costs
$50 per month for up to 2 hours of planning help for all of your general planning questions.
- Can be individual or shared, even with your entire office, for the same price.
- 6 month subscription required, no-penalty cancelation anytime in first 30-days.
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