Regions of transition between one set of traffic conditions and another are usually hotbeds for conflict and creative traffic engineering. With the onset of the road widening for Myrtle and Old Arcata, while many residents are complaining about their front yards disappearing, a certain group of citizens are resurrecting concerns over the intersection at Myrtle and Hall. At a meeting with John Woolley and Tom Mattson accounts of collisions and unreported driver foul-ups were flying.

Many homeowners in the area reported fences being destroyed multiple times. Drunk driving and erratic driving behaviors were also relived. One woman present suffered the loss of her dog from a careless driver. With stakes in the ground as the County and City of Eureka move forward with widening Myrtle, the residents of Hall have begun to ask again: What about us?

Nola Roiz has been contacting City planners regarding neighborhood traffic issues since 2001. When she began to see surveyors on Myrtle recently she realized she might have missed something. After learning about the Myrtle widening she began rousting neighbors and contacted Green Wheels to take a look at the situation.

So, what is the situation? The intersection at Myrtle and Hall marks the end of high-density development for Eureka. After that point Myrtle turns into the typical rural route most are familiar with. Myrtle also turns into a higher-speed traffic corridor. From Eureka the section of Myrtle past Hall acts like an on-ramp where drivers press the pedal down to accelerate down hill. Entering Eureka drivers are slow to transition from the 45mph speed limit to 35mph in town. The Myrtle project in general is intended to increase safety for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians by widening the road and adding bike lanes. Generally, that's great for everyone. Standing at the Myrtle and Hall intersection I didn't see anything safer about it.

In 20 minutes I witnessed most of the problems Nola spoke of. Someone nearly got rear-ended on a right turn onto Myrtle by a driver accelerating out of Eureka. People made high-speed right turns onto Hall. Drivers squealed rubber on blacktop as they tried to make left turns. Forget about walkability, I could barely believe the auto traffic issues presented before me.

Back to the meeting, John Woolley acted as a great mediator while Tom Mattson shed light on the current project, feasible options to handle the traffic problems, why other options weren't feasible given the circumstances, and suggested some basic steps public works could make immediately. What could be done immediately? How about fog striping Hall down to 11' lanes? That would narrow the path of travel, slow traffic, and allow a defined shoulder for bike and pedestrian travel. Tom also intends on putting up a speed trailer that will help involve CHP in controlling traffic speeds (see my next post regarding how these trailers work).

But what about the Myrtle speed issue? That seemed to be the root of many of the neighborhood problems. Tom said the speed couldn't be adjusted because it was based on a mandatory 85% standard of determining appropriate traffic speeds. Well, I personally enjoy controlling people psychologically much more than using regulations like speed limits. Regulations are so boring and unpopular. Why don't we try traffic calming. Let's try a narrow median 10-15' before the Hall intersection to add more definition to the intersection and create the appearance of more narrow lanes. That would slow the speed of traffic approaching the intersection even while entering the “Old Arcata on-ramp.” Well, Tom thought that was a possibility and said he would have an engineer look at the situation and try to drum up funds. Great.

In general the residents of Hall appeared to feel their concerns were being addressed. They also came away with an important tidbit of advice: report all traffic collisions and illegal driving because most of it will never be caught otherwise. Yes, every time someone screeches their tires, runs over someone's lawn, takes off a side mirror, drives erratically down the street, it should be reported. Those records are important and are the building blocks to getting things done. The more points you have, the more likely a traffic calming project or sidewalk or crosswalk will get built in your neighborhood because your neighborhood will reach a higher priority status. The more neighbors on board the faster you'll get those incidents piling up. Amongst everything else, this meeting showed, once again, that local community groups not only have access to City employees but also have great ways of getting involved and aiding the City in bringing about changes that we all want to see in our neighborhoods.

Check out the Google Street View of the intersection!