A new Eagle Road intersection would have been unique to Idaho. Then came the feedback
State officials have scrapped plans to introduce an innovative traffic design at an intersection in Eagle after receiving negative public feedback, according to the Idaho Transportation Department.
Last month, construction crews began building an $8.9 million “half continuous flow intersection,” which would have rearranged the route of left-turning traffic from Idaho 44 onto Eagle Road. Unlike a standard intersection, the new traffic pattern would have shifted left-turning vehicles to the opposite side of the road before reaching the intersection, allowing opposing traffic to flow at the same time.
ITD said the proposed plan would have improved safety and reduce congestion, according to a February press release, and ITD’s traffic pattern estimates showed that the now rejected layout would have reduce delays by 61%.
But after the design’s announcement last month, ITD received so many unfavorable comments from the public it opted to preserve the traditional intersection layout.
“There was a lot of feedback during that period last month and there were a lot of questions,” Vincent Trimboli, communications manager for ITD, told the Statesman. “We just didn’t feel like this was the right time and the right situation to put the displaced left-turn configuration into place.”
The more traditional layout is expected to cost roughly the same as the scrapped design, ITD said, and it predicts peak delays will be 60 seconds at the new intersection, whereas current wait times can be as long as 118 seconds. The peak continuous flow delays were expected to be just 46 seconds.
“After taking another look at the intersection design from a traffic operations layout and safety standpoint, we believe a wider, traditional lanes upgraded signalized intersection is the best solution that will benefit the Eagle community and region,” said ITD Chief Operations Officer Dan McElhinney in a press release on Tuesday.
The redesigned intersection will include additional left-turn lanes and will add right-turn lanes.
“When complete this fall, the revised lane configuration will eliminate displaced left-turn movements and potential wrong-way driver confusion factors while still greatly relieving congestion during peak commute hours,” according to the release.
Continuous flow intersections have been implemented successfully in Utah, and there are about 25 of them across the country, according to Trimboli. This one would have been the first in Idaho.
Though the potential engineering benefits of these intersections are still “sound,” he said, the state was concerned that confusion could cause safety issues.
ITD is considering using the continuous flow pattern at other locations, but each with be evaluated “on a case-by-case basis,” Trimboli said.
ITD plans to complete construction on the Eagle Road-Idaho 44 intersection by this fall.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
