Item B: West 11th Transportation Corridor Study

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The conflicts as summarized in the Figures 5-1 through 5-5 include the following: Vehicles turning left into and out of the driveways near the intersection cross the through traffic stream with minimal gaps and/or limited sight distance (caused by standing vehicle queues), causing drivers to brake suddenly. Vehicles turning left into and out of the driveways are in conflict with vehicles turning left into and out of adjacent closely spaced intersections and driveways. Vehicles slowing to turn right into a driveway on the far side of each signalized intersection cause other drivers following too closely to brake suddenly. th Pedestrian/vehicle conflicts occurred along Seneca Road, north of West 11 Avenue due to the high amount of pedestrians crossing mid-block on Seneca Road, causing the northbound and southbound through traffic to slow down. The high amount of pedestrian traffic is due to the close proximity to the transit station on the west side and the Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul stores on the east side. The slow acceleration of trucks and the stopping of buses at bus stops resulted in some vehicles queuing behind the truck or bus and other vehicles making sudden lane changes to by-pass the truck or bus. th The center lane along West 11 Avenue creates conflicts to the eastbound and westbound through vehicles, as left-out vehicles from driveways use the center-lane in order to continue to the travel lane. These conflicts not only reflect possible collisions, but may also lead to other types of collisions by causing drivers to brake erratically/take evasive action (potentially causing rear-end crashes) and/or to drive th aggressively. Most of the driveways along West 11 Avenue were built when traffic volumes were lower and the impacts of closely spaced driveways and intersections were not apparent. Now these conditions th impact public safety and reduce the capacity along West 11 Avenue. Safety Recommendations th To reduce the number of collisions and potential conflict points along the West 11 Avenue Corridor, access driveways adjacent to each intersection should be considered for closure, consolidation, or modification (such as a restriction in some turn movements). The consideration of modifications to driveways should be considered in a larger context, and Chapter 6 discusses a potential access management th plan for the West 11 Avenue corridor. Driveway closures or driveway modifications would either eliminate all driveway conflict points or would reduce the number of turning conflict points by restriction of left-turn in/out movements to driveways located near intersections (enforced by installation of raised medians, or driveway closure). Access management strategies have been proven to improve the safety of th roadway corridors similar to West 11 Avenue. In addition, to reduce the number of pedestrian and vehicle conflicts (i.e. along Seneca Road), a mid-block pedestrian crossing with a raised median could be installed to provide a designated area for pedestrians to cross the street safely in two stages. The crosswalk should be located in an area where adequate sight distance is provided and where there are less access driveways to conflict with. th West 11 Avenue Corridor Study September 4, 2009 City of Eugene P07265-003-000 39