Log in

Town addressing wrong-way drivers

Posted 12/14/17

An encounter with a potential head-on collision with a wrong-way driver on Palisades Boulevard this past August led Natalie Hogeboom to search for answers to this issue on a couple of major …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

Town addressing wrong-way drivers

Posted

An encounter with a potential head-on collision with a wrong-way driver on Palisades Boulevard this past August led Natalie Hogeboom to search for answers to this issue on a couple of major thoroughfares in Fountain Hills.

In fact, Hogeboom teamed up with a couple of others participating in the Leadership Academy this fall and presented a project outlining what they had learned about the process of addressing such problems.

The key person with the Town of Fountain Hills in regard to correcting any road safety issues is Public Works Director Justin Weldy. Weldy tells The Times that the town is within six weeks of completing the steps needed to address the issue of wrong-way drivers on Palisades.

The improvements to be implemented are identical to those taken along Saguaro Boulevard following the reconstruction project completed a couple of years ago. Weldy said those have been effective in reducing the number of reported wrong way drivers on Saguaro.

The important element in creating the problem is the parallel frontage or access roads that run along Saguaro, Palisades and to a lesser extent Fountain Hills Boulevard.

If a driver pulls up to stop inside the frontage road they may inadvertently make a left turn into the wrong lane on the boulevard. This is particularly difficult at night when low visibility restricts the view across the whole intersection.

Weldy said they are addressing the intersections between Lost Hills and Sage Drives and work has already begun with the installation of “one way” signs along the west side paralleling the southbound lanes.

The town is finalizing an agreement with Sunline Contracting to install thermal plastic striping to rejuvenate the skip lines for guidance striping across the northbound lanes. This striping has not been updated since the last slurry seal was put down on Palisades.

They will also be installing raised pavement markers (RPMs) along the center lines of traffic lanes. The ones nearest the intersections will be two-way with red markers showing to indicate the wrong direction.

“Do no enter” signs will be installed in the median skewed slightly toward the traffic turning from the side street. Staff will install the additional street signs.

The intersections on Palisades affected by the work include Lost Hills, Sunflower, El Lago, Thistle and Sage.

While there is no documented history of any wrong-way collisions on Palisades, Hogeboom said she found plenty of anecdotal comments on Facebook. There are a lot of people with stories of their own encounters with southbound drivers in the northbound lanes.

“We wanted to see if we could find a solution before there was a head-on collision on Palisades,” Hogeboom said.

She said they were not necessarily looking for a solution that created more signs to further confuse drivers.

Hogeboom started with Facebook contacts to compile documentation to take to officials. She made initial contact with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office believing that was a logical place to start.

It was MCSO that directed her to the right people inside Town Hall to discuss the problem.

Hogeboom met with Weldy along with Town Manager Grady Miller, Town Engineer Randy Harrel and MCSO Capt. Hank Brandimarte.

She said she found them all very willing to do what they could to address the wrong way problem.

“We talked about what [directional help] was missing at each intersection, and brainstormed a solution,” Hogeboom said.

Since she was already working on the problem Hogeboom saw that it was a logical project for her to introduce at the Leadership Academy, and she started working with Mark Derksen and Kim Widner to refine the work into a presentation.

“That is where the Leadership Academy has been key,” Widner said. “[It provided] us with the information on resources to follow through with.”