County to reduce speed at accident-prone curve
Several vehicles have missed sharp turn, ended up in fields
Following accidents in which vehicles missed curves and ended up in agriculture fields, Yuma County has reduced the speed limit to 25 miles per hour on certain road segments.
The Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution establishing a 25 mph speed limit on County 3rd Street, from Avenue 15½E alignment to Avenue 16E, and Avenue 16E, from County 3½ alignment to County 3rd Street.
County Engineer Frank Sanchez explained that several vehicles have gone past the “small sharp curve” at the intersection and flown into the adjacent farm fields.
“All we’re doing is lowering the speed so that they can traverse the curve more safely,” he said.
Sanchez noted that the intersection is used by traffic traveling to the west and south. “There is no rightof-way to the north and to the east. So essentially, it’s a small sharp curve. And so what we’re doing by this resolution is lowering the speed as you approach the curve.”
Supervisor Darren Simmons pointed out that accidents in that area are common. “This has been an ongoing problem for years,” he said. “I know last week we had two cars go into the field, one was a rollover.”
He noted that navigation systems tend to send vehicles coming from
California on that route. “The last rollover we have with a family, that’s what they said, this is the direction our GPS was taking us,” Simmons said. “It’s been going on for years, even when I was with the Sheriff’s Office. We’ve had a fatality on that corner before as far as with the military, and this is just it
needs to be slowed down.”
About half a mile before the curve, the speed will transition from 50 mph to 35 to 25 and pick up again past the curve going both ways. State statute requires that the speed be incrementally reduced.
“I have no problem. I’d say you put a stop sign in there,” Supervisor Tony Reyes said.
“You’d get a lot more calls if we put a stop sign,” Sanchez replied.
However, the county is planning to place other traffic control equipment in that area, including rumble strips and Ledsigns warning of the curve ahead.
Simmons noted that the rumble strips should “wake people up to slow down in that corner. It’s a 90-degree curve with no stop signs, but stop signs aren’t rated there.”
“I understand that we were trying to make his intersection safer. So we’re following state statute by reducing the speed and then we’re putting in markers that go on at night and rumble strips so essentially people wake up,” Reyes noted.
The supervisors adopted the resolution with a 5-0 vote.
The board also approved the rest of the items on the consent calendar, which included the following items:
• Re-establish the Antelope Palomas Road Low Flow Crossing capital improvement project in the amount of $1.6 million. The road is severely damaged due to annual storms at five crossings. Yuma County is expecting to receive about $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund (LATCF) Public Lands funds, and the supervisors previously authorized the use of these funds for road maintenance and CIP projects.
• Adoption of the 2023 Yuma County Local Emergency Planning Committee Hazardous Materials Emergency Response and Recovery Plan, superseding the 2020 plan. This plan is used as a guide for first responders during hazardous materials emergency response and recovery activities.
• Acceptance of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona forgivable loan, execution and delivery of loan documents for the Tacna Water Infrastructure Improvement Project.
• As requested by the Yuma County Republican Party, approve Republican Precinct Committeemen appointments to fill vacancies for terms that will expire on Oct. 1, 2024. The party has submitted the names of the following individuals for appointment to fill precinct committeemen vacancies: Anthony Joseph Gier, Precinct 17; Julie Ann Stevens, Precinct 20; Christopher Walter Larson, Precinct 22; and John Wayne Farris, Precinct 24.