A study into the intersection of Egan Drive and Yandukin Drive near Fred Meyer is exploring future options for the dangerous intersection, and the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is looking for input from members of the public.
Anchorage-based Kinney Engineering is using crash data from 2005 to 2014 to examine why people crash at that intersection and how injuries can be reduced. Information from that study (which is not yet complete) and DOT&PF employees will be available at a public meeting this coming Tuesday. The meeting will run from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at the large meeting room at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library.
“Somebody may have some ideas that are just kind of out of the box,” DOT&PF Project Manager Darryl Lester said, “and we would like to hear those.”
[‘The most dangerous intersection in Juneau’]
The biggest concern, according to the study so far, is left turn crashes due to the difficulty in judging breaks in oncoming traffic. The study is exploring ways to either eliminate or better control left turns.
Though Kinney’s study won’t be completed until this coming March, the study already outlines three options that could work for making the intersection safer. These options will be discussed in detail at Tuesday’s meeting.
One option is putting in a traffic signal at the intersection, thus controlling the left turns that people make from Egan Drive. This, Kinney Transportation Engineer Jeanne Bowie said, might result in more rear-end crashes at the intersection but would cut down on the number of crashes where cars are coming at each other at high speeds.
“In general, those rear-end accidents have less severity, not as many injuries, more likely to just be damage to the cars,” Bowie said. “(A traffic signal) doesn’t eliminate crashes, but it does reduce their severity.”
Cutting down on injuries is the top priority in examining the future of the intersection. In terms of the number of crashes, the intersection ranks eighth in Juneau, but it ranks third in terms of the number of crashes that result in injury, according to DOT&PF. The intersection of Egan and Mendenhall Loop Road results in the most crashes and the most injuries, according to DOT&PF.
Another option outlined in the study is to create a four-way intersection at Egan Drive and Glacier Highway, commonly known as the McNugget intersection. This would extend Lemon Spur Road (the one that runs behind Fred Meyer) to the McNugget intersection while also eliminating left turns at the intersection by Fred Meyer. This could result in more crashes at the McNugget intersection, though, according to the study.
The third concept mentioned in the study so far is creating an overpass so Egan goes above Yandukin. This would effectively create a setup like a highway exit, where there would be on and off ramps connecting Egan and Yandukin, and people could drive freely on Yandukin under Egan. This, according to the study, would reduce crash potential for all types of crashes.
Doors will be open for people to mingle and talk with DOT employees at 5 p.m. Tuesday, but the presentation itself won’t start until 5:30 p.m. People will be able to fill out comment cards at the meeting to provide feedback. DOT&PF will be accepting public comment until Jan. 12, with forms available on the DOT&PF website.
The project has its own page on the DOT&PF website as well, including updates on the research process and a fact sheet that provides more information.
Greg Lockwood, the preliminary design and environmental group chief for DOT&PF, said this project is involving the public much earlier than usual. This project is still in the extremely early stages, Lockwood said, with a Planning and Environmental Linkage (PEL) study still on the horizon. Collecting feedback now, he said, will help studies down the line go more smoothly.
“This is not our normal process,” Lockwood said. “We’re trying to make delivery more efficient and if we address the public comment early, we’re thinking our environmental process will be more efficient.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
