It's round and round we go at the intersection of Hwys 5 and 20.
The City of Humboldt is looking at a number of options for addressing traffic issues at the meeting point of our two main highways, including the possibility of redesigning the intersection as a roundabout.
But while that option may be the cheapest way to go, a roundabout could end up creating more problems than it solves.
Based on data obtained through last year's traffic study, city council has approved preliminary work to widen, repaint lanes and to replace some of the intersection signage. Mayor Malcolm Eaton said that work should get underway fairly soon.
"At the same time, we are investigating some other options, because rebuilding that whole intersection is quite expensive," he said. "So council is interested in seeing what the lane changes and different lane and signage controls will do. Then we're going to decide what the next steps might be after that."
A wholesale redesign of the intersection would include adding turning signals and lanes, a boulevard to prevent vehicles from turning left (across the flow of traffic) out of area businesses, and beveling, or graduating, the street corners to make it easier for heavy trucks to negotiate turns. Humboldt planning and engineering director Joe Doxey said all told, that plan would cost upwards of $630,000 - and that's money the city currently doesn't have.
Also, that amount doesn't include the possibility of having to buy land from 7-Eleven, or moving their monument sign. If their underground tanks had to be moved, that would increase the cost of the project as well, Doxey said.
Because there is no highway or municipal improvement grant money available for such an undertaking right now, the funds would have to come from somewhere else, such as a tax hike or one-time levy. That's one reason the city is looking at other, more affordable options, Doxey noted.
A much cheaper option - in the neighborhood of a mere $10,000 - would be to build a roundabout. But as Doxey notes, that might be difficult for heavy trucks to negotiate, especially the double-length "super-B's" that come through on Hwy 20.
Doxey said a third alternative council is considering is a hybrid of the roundabout and the standard intersection, in which smaller vehicles would use the roundabout, while the middle of the roundabout would be a traditional intersection with lights, used by heavy trucks.
Doxey explained that most roundabouts include a statue, monument or grassy area in the middle of the traffic circle. With the hybrid option, an intersection would cut right through the hybrid, complete with lights to control the truck traffic.
Doxey conceded that it might not be workable to have two different types of traffic flow - one regulated, and one not, overlapping in the same place.
Although he doesn't dismiss the idea outright, Mayor Eaton said the roundabout concept might be better suited to other, less busy intersections within the city.
"The whole idea of the roundabout or the hybrid combination, we're certainly pleased that our engineering and planning department is bringing those kinds of options forward," he said. "We're not thinking specifically here of Hwy 5 and 20, but there are some other places around the community where something like that might be a more workable solution. We haven't identified those (places), and we're in the early stages of this. But it's an interesting concept. It's not a concept that Humboldt has embraced before, but it's widely used in some other communities. So it's worth taking a look at, because the economics of it are much better than rebuilding an intersection."
Eaton recalled the difficulty caused by the four-way stop at the Hwy 5 and 20 intersection the last time the lights were knocked out of commission. He's not sure that a roundabout situation would be much better.
"With the four-way stop in place, traffic seemed to move better - except for pedestrians, and for people who didn't know how to use a four-way stop," he said. "I don't want to prejudge the opportunity, but I think (with a roundabout) we'd have the same issues. We'd have people who didn't know how to drive the roundabout, and we'd have issues with pedestrians. Because that's a pretty major corner for pedestrians. It's (also) hard to do it on a highway, because of the significant traffic that's there."
Eaton noted that all the debate may be for naught if simply adding additional turn signals improves both flow and safety.
"We're looking at an east-west arrow system as well," he said. "That's the short-term fix. And if that works, we won't be looking at roundabouts and other things."
