Well it appears the State Department of Transportation would like to close a bunch of accesses to highway 6 & 50. I'm not writing about all the access points on the highway, but I am writing about the one that affects me and the neighborhood where I work.
Below is a map of the area. I am apologising for the quality now, it is hard to cram a large area in a small space. I'll also apologize for the line drawing I'm not known for my drawing.
The plan proposed for the area is one that will:
A) Close Scarlett Drive access
B) Turn the Sanford Drive/Hwy 6 & 50 into a 3/4 intersection. That means you could turn left onto Sanford from 6&50 and all right turns are OK, but you could not turn left from Sanford onto 6 & 50.
C) Close driveway access to Acorn Food Store/West Gate Inn
The plan essentially routes all traffic from the industrial area/Acorn/West Gate Inn, that is headed for Grand Junction, through the back streets to get to G- Road.
The routes to get to Grand Junction, I have colored on the plan.
My opposition to the plan
1) There isn't a problem. I looked over all the crash reports that the City of Grand Junction has online. They do not list intersections that have fewer than 5 crashes in the reports. Since 2000, the intersection of Sanford and Highway 6 & 50 has never been listed. There are over 25,000 cars per day that travel that intersection.
2) Most of the traffic in this area is truck traffic and other industrial equipment. To have this traffic weaving through the whole neighborhood is crazy and not safe.
3) Blocks access for customers going to West Gate Inn/ Otto's Restaurant and Lounge. If you live in Grand Junction and want to buy a good prime rib, would you travel out to Otto's, knowing you would get lost going home.
4) No access for motel customers to go into Grand Junction. The mall is a fairly popular spot in town, so what do you if you can't get there from your motel?
5) If Sanford was a problem intersection, didn't you just move the problem to the intersection of G and 6 & 50? Quite possibly making the "problem" worse with more traffic at that intersection.
6) Two of the 3 paths available to you, to get into Grand Junction, would require you to travel in front of the new strip club. That is a great way to showcase Grand Junction.
7) There is little in the way of trucking facilities in Grand Junction. If they implement the plan it will drive (pardon the pun) the truck traffic on down the road...along with their money.
8) Political point: The State of Colorado has no money, so broke that we are evicting mental health patients from their homes and letting criminals loose on the street. Why the hell are we building crap that we do not need.
9) I know West Gate has on staff about 40 to 50 jobs at any given time, Acorn (I'm guessing) has about 20, No idea how many people Sterling Crane and the many other businesses have in the neighborhood. This plan endangers their jobs. No business = no jobs.
10) Safety of the customers of West Gate Inn, and other businesses. Restricting access for emergency medical vehicles will increase the amount of travel time to hospital.
More Information
The state has a web page with more maps of the whole plan and a little bit more information. It is located here: http://www.dot.state.co.us/us6sh139access/content/publicInvolvement.cfm
There is a bright side to all of this... There will be a meeting at the West Gate Inn on October 28 at 4pm to 7 pm. They will cover the whole plan (I think), I will be in attendance and giving my view point as well as suggestions on other ideas. Please come and comment on the plan.
Looks like a mess to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat? another traffic circle, Cripes this town has plenty of them already.