After Violent Accident La Junta Citizens Plead for Safer Intersections To Council 12/6/21

Description: La Junta citizens responded to recent accidents on uncontrolled side streets by voicing their concerns to the La Junta City Council Monday evening.


Published: 12/06/2021
Byline: Hart

LJ City Council 12-6-21

LJ City Council 12-6-21 Audience Participation Steven Nielsen

SECO News Public Meeting Audience Participation Cover Image

After Violent Accident La Junta Citizens Plead for Safer Intersections

La Junta residents took intersection safety concern to the council meeting Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. Steven Nielsen read a prepared statement from the group.

"So we've had a couple accidents at our intersections, it's not infrequent, I've lived in this town for 22 years, and there are a lot of unregulated intersections and recently I have a little more time on my hands so I'm trying to take the time to address some things that need addressing. But, accidents are number one, I think. We're at 7th and Carson, you know at the very top and Stacey, she's at Bellevue and 7th and we have some concerns.

Accidents are common at intersections with devastating results to property and quality of life. Traffic on Carson between 10th and 5th, which is unregulated is often going too fast to be safe in my opinion."

He went on to confirm that the speed limit on Carson and Bellevue is 30 miles per hour but drivers can be exceeding that slightly going 35 plus and quite a bit more. Cross streets at 9th, 8th, 7th, and 6th intersections are also unregulated at Carson, Nielsen said.

"Some drivers may travel unaware that the cross street is unregulated, many drivers are unaware of the actual statute determining these rights of way."

Nielsen said, "I've spoken with many people in 22 years of residence here. The City of La Junta is not a sleepy little rural town where everyone knows their intersections. We have a lot of people moving here, we have new students from OJC..."

Possible solutions recommended by Nielsen while he spoke on behalf of the group included two-way stop signs, a speed hump on Carson between 5th & 7th, a lowered speed limit on Carson or some combination of these measures or other measures.

City officials responded with concern.

La Junta Mayor Joe Ayala repeatedly thanked the citizens who participated for doing research and having the courage to bring their safety concerns to the city council and for taking the extra step of bringing solutions.

La Junta City Manager Rick Klein said, "You know the first thing we're going to do is increase patrols in the area to get people to slow down."

Director of Public Safety Bill Jackson said, "It's always traumatic to witness an accident...But we have uncontrolled intersections all over the city, so we will do a study of the intersection, 7th & Carson. The accident history is five in the last ten years, three of them were in the last year, so that's a dangerous intersection.

Jackson went on to say the statute reads, "when two vehicles approach or enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time the driver on the left shall yield the right of way to the vehicle on the right."

Jackson said, "This is what we'll do, now that you've given us this list we'll have an investigation, we'll probably do a speed study..."

Jackson said, "we'll post the statute on Facebook, with the police department, and explain the reason why we have uncontrolled intersections, because a little bit of education can go a long way." 

He said, we have to follow the traffic engineering manual and the manual of uniform traffic control devices. The time frame on the study is 30-45 days to assemble the information (accident history, speed study, sight distance, etc). He expects to report back in 45-60 days.

City Attorney Phil Mallouff said, "It's not our rule, but council cannot regulate placement of traffic control devices. There has to be an engineering study done to take a look at this, that, and the other, that's what the traffic engineer does. There doesn't need to be any further follow up, I mean you can always come to the meetings - it's always nice to see people."



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