Intersection continues to vex officials, residents

A group of about 40 people packed into Grafton Village Hall last week to try to find a way to improve the intersection of Highway 60 and 13th Avenue, where numerous accidents and near-misses have occurred.

But, Public Works Director Julie Esch told the Board of Public Works Tuesday, a perfect solution hasn’t been found yet.

At last week’s public information meeting, residents were provided with two alternatives from the state Department of Transportation — turning 13th Avenue into a one-way street heading north and eliminating left turns from Highway 60 or allowing two-way traffic on the north side of 13th Avenue while making 13th Avenue to the south one-way.

Residents, Esch said, were generally not in favor of changing the traffic pattern, citing the impact on the neighboring residential streets.

“There are a lot of complicating factors,” she said.

“We have overwhelming support for what’s there now,” Village President Dave Armstrong, chairman of the board, said.

What’s there now are temporary traffic delineators that create a so-called pork-chop island to prevent eastbound traffic on Highway 60 from turning left onto 13th Avenue.

Those delineators, Esch said, have helped the situation.

But residents also asked about two other options that could improve the situation, Esch said.

They asked if the DOT would allow traffic signals to be installed at the intersection, something the DOT said will not work.

The DOT requires traffic signals to be at least a quarter-mile apart, something that would be impossible in this situation because there are traffic signals a block away at the intersection of Highway 60 and 12th Avenue.

The problem, Esch said, is that when traffic lights are too close to each other traffic often backs up between them — sometimes to the point that vehicles are backed into the next intersection.

DOT studies also show that crashes increase when signals are too close together, she said.

The DOT has also said the current bollards in front of the house at the southeast corner of Highway 60 and 13th Avenue are unsafe because they don’t break if struck by a vehicle, potentially causing serious injury to motorists, Esch said. 

Residents asked if they could be replaced with break-away bollards that might be safer, she said.

But the DOT said this is not something the agency would advise doing because there is not enough space for a vehicle to stop after hitting the bollards before striking the house.

The DOT, which plans to rebuild Highway 60 in the coming years, does not include the bollards in its design plan, which is 60% complete, Esch said, adding the DOT wants to know what the village wants to see at the crossing by the end of the year to add it to the plan.

“They are not going to replace them,” she said of the bollards. “They’re not safe.”

Board member Tom Krueger asked if the village had considered buying the house at the corner, which has been hit numerous times by vehicles during the past several years.

That’s something the village would have to consider, Esch said.

Board member Jeremy Napiwocki asked if that’s necessary.

“Should the village feel obligated to protect that house?” he asked.

Board member Les Blum asked if additional signage would help, but Esch said that’s not likely.

“There’s so much signage there, it’s overload,” she said.

Esch said that the intersection is a difficult one, noting that 17 warnings or citations were issued to motorists there during the last year.

The problem, she said, is that motorists get impatient, particularly those driving west on Highway 60 who want to turn left but can’t necessarily see oncoming traffic.

“They see a gap and they punch it,” she said.

Or, she said, traffic waiting behind the turning vehicles tries to get them it and strikes vehicles in the next lane.