Surely Caltrans could have brought along some statistics

In interviews for a story last week, we were hoping that Caltrans personnel would be able to make a little better argument in favor of center turning lanes and how safe they are.

From the group of citizens concerned about the Highway 70 Safety Improvement Project through District 10, if you eliminate all the concerns about rightof-way and loss of property and all of the arguments from those who somehow see the project as detrimental to an oft-wished-for Marysville bypass ... you still have a lot of people concerned about the safety of middle turn lanes. All sorts of people, whether they live in the project zone or not.

Word is out, right or wrong, that adding a continuous leftturn lane down the center of the highway equates to a “suicide lane.” Why? Because too many people have seen too many other people using the middle lane as a passing lane.

Safety is the number one priority of Caltrans, is the response when the concern is raised.

“It is anticipated that the proposed safety improvements, including the two-way left-turn lane will result in collision severity reduction and/or collision reduction overall.” That was a response from the project manager.

And they cite the number of accidents caused when vehicles are leaving or entering the highway – rear-end accidents, head-on accidents or other. But there were no statistics that could immediately be cited, when our reporter did this story, about center lanes.

Trouble is, all of us have sometime or other stopped in a center lane to make a turn. And it’s scary. There are cars coming at you, and there are cars coming from behind you and you just pray that they’ll stay out of the turn lane while you’re sitting there.

Our hunch is that Caltrans is right. But we’d sure like to see the statistics and have the explanation be polished up.

It’s an honest question and concern ... how safe, statistically, is a middle turn lane on a fullfledged, high-speed highway that leaves you sitting still while cars are zooming past and around you? Their inability to answer with clarity makes it seem like they’re sure they’ll get their way no matter what the locals think. Maybe that’s true ... but it would be nice if they’d just play along.