Driving in the Grand Valley

Every town has unique things about the way people drive and Grand Junction in no different. I was issued my first driver's licence in Grand Junction and I think I mastered the "art" of driving in this valley.

Every week I read in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel "You Said It" section about poor driving and complaints about round-a-bouts so I thought I'd give you my two cents worth of knowledge on the subject...

1) If a driver is turning, there is no need for turn signals. The driver has been turning at that intersection, at that time of day, for 30 years and everybody should know that, so signals are not required.

2) Turn signals when changing lanes are not made by a turn signal light, they are made by watching the driver. When the driver looks over their shoulder, the direction they look is your signal on where they are going.

3) It is legal to turn left from 4th Street to Pitkin Ave. when the light is red. People will get angry at you if you do not turn left on the red light, even if the traffic heading East is heavy.

4) When turning from I-70B to 30 Road, heading South, there is not a stop sign, you can keep on driving.

5) Grand Junction residents like to think there was a plan when they put a round-a-bout in the middle of a parking lot.

6) Nobody in the Grand Valley understands how to maneuver a four way stop. I'm not talking about those weird four-lane, four way stops like they have in Nampa, Idaho (I can't figure them out), but a regular four way stop. If you find yourself at a four-way stop in Grand Junction expect to be there for an hour or two because no one can decide who goes first.

7) If you are from a big city, you are accustom to drivers immediately going when a traffic light turns green, to the point where you are easing into the intersection before the light turns so you can go even quicker. In Grand Junction there is a pause before any traffic moves, when the light turns green. It gives people time to finish up reading the bumper stickers on the car ahead of them. I read pretty fast, so I spend that extra second at the light, to ponder why anybody would want "testicles" hanging from their back bumper.

8) Grand Valley residents are courteous to a fault. They often gesture for you to turn left in front of them, even if they have the right-of-way. This often occurs at a 2 way stop sign.

9) The only traffic lights that are timed correctly are 4th and 5th streets. Most of the lights in town are some sort of "on-demand" system. Because those streets have well timed lights and people seemed to enjoy driving from the North to the South uninterrupted, we thought a good idea would be to restrict traffic from 3 lanes to 2 lanes in both directions, thus increasing the challenge of your drive. We don't want you to get board when driving around town.

Directional Notes: Yes, in Grand Junction we have weird street names - The numbers are how many miles the road is from the Utah border so on 22 Road you are 22 miles from Utah. As for the letters, I have no idea where the letters start or where A Road is, but I do know that every letter is a mile apart.

I think the idea is kind of a hybrid of Utah street names where every town has a Center Street and the address is more like coordinates (ie: 100 North 100 East). Personally I like it because I am a map and coordinates kind of guy. For me it is much easier to find stuff. But I get a lot of questions like " How do you get 1/2 of a B (referring to B 1/2 Road)? It's fun to drive around town and look for the improper fractions in the road names. So if you see a 21 32/64ths road don't be surprised.


How about a little extra challenge in case you ain't from around here.....

There are multiple names for the same street all over town here are some popular examples:

• I-70B="the bypass"=Highway 6 & 50=Ute (or Pitkin, depending our your direction of travel)
• North Avenue=Highway 6=E Road
• Patterson= F Road
• 1st Street = 26 Road
• 7th Street = 26 1/2 Road
• 12th Street= 27 Road
• D Road=Riverside Parkway=River Road
• There is no 28th Street but there is a 28 Road about where 28th Street should be.
• Highway 6 does not go through Orchard Mesa, but Highway 50 is often referred to as Highway 6&50 in Orchard Mesa

I'm sure I've missed some so feel free to comment on your traffic experiences in Grand Junction or maybe some weird stuff in your hometown traffic.

And ....Oh yeah, Drive Safely!