Summary: Specific proposals for long-term solutions and construction are still a long way off for Egan and Yandukin drives.
12:50 p.m.
Assembly member Maria Gladzsiszewski asked why the intersection is receiving DOT attention if statistics peg it as the eighth most common site for crashes.
Goins said the high visibility of the intersection and lack of routes around it are part of the picture.
“People will sit there for hours sometimes when these accidents occur, and that’s all they have to think about,” Goins said.
Assembly member Michelle Bonnet Hale said a lot of the crashes at the intersection happen at high speed, too.
12:45 p.m.
Brown said right now, a proposal for the project is expected to be made toward the end of this year.
Goins is now covering when actual construction could possibly happen. Funding, he said, is a big part of that.
“We’re a ways out time wise from being able to construct this,” Goins said. He did not specify a potential month or year.
12:40 p.m.
Brown is introducing possible short-term improvements to the intersection.
“We’re looking at ways to improve safety without major construction,” Brown said.
There are four preliminary areas that DOT has so far identified.
Those include more frequent gaps in traffic, reducing conflicts between turning vehicles.
Brown said eliminating turns at the intersection is being considered, so too is possibly reducing the speed limit near the intersection.
“Right now, the speed limit through that area is 55 mph, the average person is driving 62,” Brown said.
He said those are all just early possibilities, Brown said, and more public input will be sought before any final decision is made.
“You’re going to see quite a bit more from us, reaching out,” Brown said.
12:33 p.m.
Brown said he does not know offhand what intersections see the most crashes, but he said he did know that No. 1 is Mendenhall Loop Road and Egan Drive.
12:30 p.m.
According to a 2013 traffic and safety report, the intersection is the eighth highest for total crashes in Juneau, has had no fatalities, 46% of crashes involved vehicles making left turns and more than 50% of crashes happen in November, December and January.
Brown said offsetting the turn lanes at the intersection in 2012 and adding lights in 2013 does not seem to have led to a consistent decrease in the number of crashes at the intersection.
“The results seem to be more variable whether or not those two improvement projects really got us where we wanted to go,” Brown said.
12:26 p.m.
Jim Brown and Chris Goins with DOT have started their presentation regarding the Egan and Yandukin drives project.
12:23 p.m.
The committee unanimously recommended appropriations for a Capital Transit grant, a waste management appropriation and a $450,000 transfer for Aspen Avenue reconstruction.
12:17 p.m.
CBJ employees are explaining why it is requested that an alternative procurement method be used for the waste water controls and supervisory control and data acquisition upgrade project.
They said it’s going to be a complicated project replacing old equipment that could benefit from use of a voter-approved procurement process that does not award work to the lowest qualified bidder.
“We’re trying to peel an onion that we don’t know exactly what’s inside it said chief capital improvement projects engineer and water superintendent John Bohan. “We will still be pursing a competitive process for this,” Bohan said. “We’ll solicit with our scope and our focus in mind.”
11:55 a.m.
Efforts to improve a busy Juneau intersection are on the agenda for today’s City and Borough of Juneau Public Works and Facilities Committee.
A presentation regarding the intersection of Egan and Yandukin drives, informally known as the “Fred Meyer intersection,” from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is scheduled for later in the meeting.
Here’s a link to the meeting packet, which includes a copy of the presentation.
First, there committee will need to work its way through action items that include appropriations for for waste management and potential upgrades for a wastewater control computer system among other items.
• Contact reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.
