When I see “Traffic Safety Project” signs, what can I expect? What impact does it have on traffic and safety? Are there different rules of the road associated with this designation?
— Linda Nelson, Vancouver
Linda, we think you mean the Traffic Safety Corridors that the city and state have instituted along three different local roadways: Fourth Plain Boulevard, Mill Plain Boulevard and Northeast 112th Avenue.
Those corridors were identified as particularly dangerous by analyzing crash data. They’ve all experienced greater-than-average numbers of collisions. So, the city of Vancouver — with some financial help from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission — instituted a program of extra law enforcement, roadway improvements, special signage and public education.
“Drivers can expect to experience increased law enforcement and low-cost, near-term engineering improvements over the duration of the two-year project,” said Robyn Chastain, safety corridor spokeswoman. “The rules of the road are the same … as for any street. The intent is to build awareness in the community about a particular portion of road that has above-average crashes so driving behavior changes.”
In other words, you should drive just as conscientiously as you always do … and then maybe just a little more.
Our first local, state-designated traffic safety corridor was Fourth Plain — the first urban street in the state to win the dubious designation, and already dubbed “accident alley” by some. It experienced significant drops in injury accidents and in total collisions in the mid-2000s, when the Traffic Safety Corridor designation was active. The same goes for Mill Plain, a designated safety corridor beginning in late 2006.
“This spring, we will complete the final roadway work which includes striping and miscellaneous improvements,” said Brooke Porter, city of Vancouver transportation spokeswoman. “At that point, we will take down the ‘Mill Plain Traffic Safety Corridor’ signs. This corridor was very successful. Fatal and serious injury crashes on Mill Plain dropped 25 percent after the two-year effort to reduce collisions and improve traffic safety.”
The latest corridor, 112th Avenue north of Chkalov, was designated this past September.
— Scott Hewitt
Got a question about your neighborhood? We’ll get it answered. Send “What’s up with that?” questions to neighbors@columbian.com.
