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Safety changes urged at Avenue of the Saints intersection

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

A man who lost two members of his family to a car accident at an Avenue of the Saints intersection in Floyd County is urging county supervisors to support roadway changes recommended in a traffic study.

Brian Wulff discussed an Iowa Department of Transportation intersection site safety assessment for the intersection of U.S. Highway 18 and Lancer Avenue/county road T38 between Floyd and Rudd, at the supervisors’ planning session Monday morning.

Wulff said the study was released last December and none of the recommendations have been completed yet, including several that would be low cost.

He asked the supervisors to write a letter to the state DOT urging it to make changes, but supervisors take no official actions at planning sessions

Supervisor Mark Kuhn said he had talked with County Engineer Dusten Rolando and Sheriff Jeff Crooks and both said they support the recommendations made by the site assessment.

Some of the recommendations could be accomplished by the county, Kuhn said.

Wulff’s 14-year-old son, Jadon, and Wulff’s mother, Marilyn Louise Wulff, 75, were killed in a two-vehicle collision on Oct. 18, 2016, at the intersection. The Iowa State Patrol reported that Marilyn Wulff pulled out from Lancer Avenue into the path of a pickup truck being driven by a Minnesota man, who was not injured in the collision.

An intersection site safety assessment team reviewed crash data and other data and visited the intersection, according to the assessment. It reported that 19 crashes occurred at the intersection between 2006 and 2016, including the Wulff crash that resulted in the two fatalities.

County road T38 intersects Highway 18 at right angles and the intersection is controlled by warning rumble strips and stop signs with flashing beacons on the roads entering the highway.

The assessment says that 15 of the 19 crashes involved collisions with vehicles coming from T38 either north or south.

“These patterns underscore the difficulties on the part of drivers on T38 being able to judge when it is safe to proceed across the divided lanes of U.S. 18,” the assessment says. “There does not appear to be an overrepresentation of older or younger drivers specifically that are being challenged with judging gaps. Instead, all drivers at the site are facing a similar challenge.”

The assessment says that “porkchop”-shaped dividers force vehicles turning right from T38 to stop at an angle.

“It requires drivers to turn their necks and look over their shoulder to view on-coming traffic on U.S. 18 and determine when it is safe to proceed. This can be challenging, especially for older drivers,” the assessment says.

Wulff said, “You don’t know how many times I’ve thought and tried to figure out how come my mom pulled out from that stop sign. My mom has gone through that intersection thousands of times through her lifetime, when it was a two-lane, when it was a four-lane, and there is absolutely no reason, especially with her grandson in the passenger seat, that she would pull out knowingly.”

The list of suggestions from the assessment study includes:

• “Recheck Cross Traffic” signs similar to those used by the DOT elsewhere in the state could be added below the “Yield” signs in the U.S. 18 median.

• Consider adding yield lines (solid white triangles} in conjunction with the median “Yield” signs to provide drivers with another visual cue that they may need to yield to cross traffic.

• Reflective red or white post strips could be added to “Stop” and “Yield” sign posts to increase conspicuity.

• Sight distance studies could be conducted to verify that adequate sight distances exist on each intersection approach.

• Speed studies could be conducted on U.S. 18 to determine whether vehicles speeds are excessive. If excessive speeds are found, targeted speed enforcement in the area should be pursued.

• Consider the addition of offset right and/or left turn lanes on U.S. 18. This could prevent the view of stopped traffic on T38 from being obstructed. Kuhn said he was told this option could cost about $200,000.

• Consider the addition of an Intersection Conflict Warning System (ICWS) to warn vehicles on T38 of approaching traffic on U.S. 18.

• Move the “One-Way” sign for southbound traffic on T38 above the “Yield” sign, similar to the mounting used for the sign in the opposite direction of the median.

• Consider squaring up the intersection and removing the “porkchop” islands to provide right-turning traffic from T38 with reduced driver workload in viewing on coming vehicles on U.S. 18.

• Perform shoulder maintenance operations as needed to address the potential for pavement edge drop off to occur.

• The three sets of rumble strips on the south leg of T38 could be re-milled by the county to increase their effectiveness.

• The destination light in the southeast corner could be expanded to a larger size to increase illumination.

• Consider relocating the utility pole/destination light on the southeast corner of the intersection away from the shoulder area to be less of a striking hazard.

“Many of these suggested changes are low-cost modifications that can be accomplished in a rather short time frame,” the assessment said.

In the long term, the assessment said, the Iowa Department of Transportation should consider alternative designs for the intersection, including an overpass or underpass for T38 to cross U.S. 18, or an interchange.

Wulff said, “Our short-term goal is to improve safety at the Highway 18/Lancer Avenue intersection until longer-term solutions can be implemented.

“Of, course, a long-term solution would be very costly. It seems like costs always come at the forefront, even though safety is very important,” he said.

“We’d like to have those short-term suggested improvements implemented. We’d like to encourage the Iowa Dot to look further, at further ways to improve safety at this intersection both short- and long-term,” Wulff said.

 

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