With tight budgets forcing expensive overpasses out of the picture on the 101 Eureka Arcata Corridor Improvement Project, and safety issues pushing the closure of all median crossings from Arcata to Eureka, Caltrans responded to comments to their original proposal with new ideas on how to cross this thoroughfare safely.

One option is the “Michigan left,” which prevents drivers from crossing lanes of traffic by forcing a merging right turn. Drivers would then have the option of making a u-turn across the median to travel the other direction. This u-turn would also allow drivers to pass their turnoff, make a u-turn, and exit the freeway without crossing traffic. Check en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_left for more details. This treatment is under consideration for the Indianola Cutoff intersection.

The second option is a half-signal that would stop northbound traffic to allow safe crossing of vehicles exiting the freeway from the southbound lane. Southbound traffic would be unimpeded. Caltrans is looking at this option at Airport Road.

These options reduce the cost of the corridor project overall and increase safety by preventing lane crossings. However, because median crossings may be closed for the entire length of the corridor, motorists and cyclists may still be heavily impacted by out-of-direction travel. When asked at a recent Humboldt County Association of Governments’ Technical Advisory Committee meeting about blocking cyclist access, Caltrans representatives expressed hesitation toward encouraging cyclists to cross the highway at all.