CLEARLAKE — Caltrans is currently spending around $450,000 in the City of Clearlake for traffic safety improvements on State Route 53 at Lakeshore Drive. The project includes street widening and installation of new turning signals.
“What we”re doing involves widening the streets, Lakeshore Drive and 40th Avenue, to add left turn pockets,” said Phil Frisbie, Jr., Caltrans information officer for Lake and Mendocino counties. “Then we will be adding dedicated left turn signals for those two left turn lanes.”
The project utilizes safety project funds estimated at a cost of approximately $450,000. The project is expected for full completion by mid-October; however, Frisbie, Jr. said that Caltrans expects to activate the new left-hand turn signals on Monday, Sept. 29.
According to Frisbie Jr., all Caltrans projects are sent to out to bid using the competitive bidding process guidelines that are mandated by the state. North Bay Construction, Inc., of Petaluma is the contractor on the current project in Clearlake.
The purpose of the project is to reduce the collision rate and improve the efficiency of the intersection. “Our traffic studies had shown an increase in traffic volumes on Lakeshore Drive and 40th Avenue, which have increased the need for traffic to make left turns onto State Route 53,” Frisbie, Jr. said. “The collision rate at that intersection is approximately three times the statewide average for an intersection of similar type. Although there is currently a signal, the signal system does not provide dedicated left turns from the two local streets.”
The project, Frisbie, Jr. said, is a solution to the problem. “We developed this project to construct those left turn lanes and provide those dedicated left turn signals onto State Route 53, which we anticipate will reduce rear-end, sideswipe and broadside collisions at the intersection,” he said.
Frisbie, Jr. further reported that Caltrans has another upcoming project in the Clearlake area. “We have a roadway rehabilitation project planned for State Route 53 from the intersection at 40th Avenue to the junction with State Route 20,” he said. “That project is anticipated to begin summer of 2010. We are going to be repaving, widening shoulders and improving the left turn pockets.”
Frisbie said that left turn pockets will be improved and/or added at Polk Avenue, Olympic Drive, Old Highway 53 and Ogulin Canyon Road for traffic turning onto State Route 53.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
