By Neil Farrel~
A proposed fix for a troublesome intersection is making the rounds again, with the State and City coming around to a preferred solution if not in a somewhat round-about way.
In case you haven’t gotten these rather unsubtle hints, the City of Morro Bay and Caltrans have reached a second milestone in efforts to put a roundabout at the intersection of Hwy 41 and Main Street.
Capital Projects Manager, Rick Sauerwein, explained that that the concept — in the works since the early 2000s — gained Caltrans’ approval of a second “Intersection Control Evaluation” or ICE. “It’s a deeper evaluation of alternatives,” Sauerwein said. “The goal is improving the flow of traffic through the intersection.”
They’ve considered things like leaving it the way it is — a four-way stop sign, a traffic signal, and a “modern” roundabout. “The roundabout is the preferred alternative,” Sauerwein said. “It would do the best job of handling the projected traffic over the next 30 to 40 years.”
Though it’s risen to the top of the list, he added that at this point they haven’t precluded a traffic light. That final decision would await completion of an environmental review. He added that the project wouldn’t need a full-blown environmental impact report but rather a so-called negative-declaration review.
The City last week closed bidding on a contract to do preliminary design and environmental review. They anticipate awarding a contract at the City Council’s Aug. 23 meeting, he said and starting that work in mid-September. He said they anticipate a year to 1-1/2 years for this, another year for final design work and starting construction in summer 2019 — assuming of course they can get funding.
The Public Works Advisory Board or PWAB is slated to look at the proposals at its Aug. 17 meeting. As with other professional contracts, the lowest bidder won’t necessarily get the job. Because there are Federal and State monies being spent, “This process must follow specific Caltrans procedures and the resulting Consultant Services Agreement must include special Federal provisions, contract clauses and forms,” Sauerwein’s July 20 PWAB staff report reads. Because the project is on a State highway, the critical decision won’t be a City one, but rather the Caltrans District Office.
Because the ICE 1 and 2 processes are now done, Sauerwein said they can start spending Federal and State monies. The Council of Governments has some $650,000 already programmed for this, he said. But that doesn’t even begin to look at where the construction money will come from. “Construction is a whole ‘nother matter,” said Sauerwein. He said the project is projected to cost $5 million.
SLOCOG officials have said the roundabout is one project to be funded through the “self help county,” half-cent sales tax hike — Measure J — to be voted on in November.
So why do taxpayers need to spend $5 million on this intersection? “It’s on the verge of starting to break down,” Sauerwein said, “particularly on weekends, and morning and evening peak hours.” Eventually, it’ll be considered a failure under federal highway standards.
Often, traffic on the Hwy 1 off ramp backs up clear into the highway travel lanes, worsening what’s already a dangerous on-off ramp (the Main Street- Hwy 1 on ramp and Hwy 41-Hwy 1 off ramp share a lane for a short distance).
And in case readers look at the existing intersection and think to themselves, “It’ll never work,” the preliminary drawings Sauerwein gave to PWAB, show a complete transformation of the intersection.
‘We’re looking at a five-legged roundabout and eliminating all the conflicting left-hand turns. It’s safer for vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists. We get a wide variety of pedestrians and bicyclist through there.” During the school year Morro Bay High kids flood through the area bound for Wee Shack and Taco Bell for lunch. That’s likely to be even heavier once a Sonic Burger Drive-in gets built at the intersection.
Sauerwein said they have been working with the Sonic applicants on designing their ingress and egress to fit with the roundabout. “All existing businesses should see improvement for access with the roundabout,” Sauerwein said.
