Busy corner on U.S. 92 in DeLand to get safety upgrade

But no traffic light, DOT says

By Barb Shepherd
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Mar 20, 2009 - 9:54:06am

A busy intersection on DeLand’s north side will be getting a safety upgrade, but not the improvement many people had hoped for.

After studying the intersection of U.S. Highway 92 and McDonald Avenue, the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to install a concrete barrier to restrict turns there.

Nearby residents and others who drive the area frequently wanted a traffic light, instead, but DOT says the intersection doesn’t qualify.

DOT survey records show, during a Wednesday-afternoon rush hour in January, some 4,770 vehicles used the intersection between 4 and 6 p.m.

Improvements to the intersection were a topic of discussion at the DeLand City Commission meeting March 16, although the DOT had already pretty much decided on its course of action.

Traffic-operations engineer Chris Cairns of the DOT said his agency has been studying the intersection for many years. There have been 20 traffic crashes at the corner during the past four years, including one fatality and 10 injuries.

City officials questioned whether perhaps DOT does not want to spend the extra money — about $110,000 more — for a traffic light.

“It’s not about money,” Cairns said. “If we thought that was the solution, that’s what we would be doing.”

Cairns said the DOT keeps a special fund for safety improvements, so they can be made even when budgets get tight.

The intersection is in a hotbed of commercial development along U.S. 92. The DeLand Family YMCA, on the northwest corner, has just completed a major expansion. A Best Western Inn is planned on the southwest corner of the intersection, and another hotel is being contemplated near the northeast corner. Also, commercial developers are eyeing vacant land on the southeast corner.

Just down the street, the Lowe’s store, Dunkin’ Donuts and Comfort Inn are all fairly new. Across Garfield Avenue from Dunkin’ Donuts, demolition is under way to make room for an AutoZone.

South of U.S. 92 are the neighborhoods of Lake Lindley, Heather Glen and Waterford Lakes, whose residents use McDonald Avenue to access the highway.

Development activity has added cars and trucks to an already busy highway. DOT records show the average daily traffic on U.S. 92 near the intersection was 23,500 cars a day in 2000, and 31,000 cars a day in 2007, the latest year for which daily averages were available.

The barrier DOT plans to install will prohibit cars from going straight across U.S. 92 on McDonald.

It will also prohibit left turns off McDonald; instead, motorists will have to turn right and go either way down U.S. 92 to make U-turns.

City Commissioner Charles Paiva said residents and motorists he’s talked with would prefer no improvements rather than a raised concrete barrier in the median.

“Some are worried you’re trading one safety hazard for another,” Paiva told Cairns.

Paiva suggested waiting to see what effect the coming commercial development will have on traffic, to see whether the corner might qualify for a traffic signal in the near future.

“It’s not something we want to hold off another year on,” Cairns said. “We really are focused on addressing the safety issue.”

Cairns added, however, the final decision would rest with his boss.

The discussion with the City Commission did produce a compromise, of sorts. Cairns said he would check into whether a temporary median barrier can be installed, that could be more easily removed if the decision is made later to go with a traffic signal.

Another consideration in the debate is the intersection of U.S. 92 with Brunswick Lane, just to the west of McDonald. DOT has made it clear that if McDonald gets a traffic light, Brunswick will not be able to have one, because the intersections are too close together.

The City of DeLand is developing a 100-acre industrial park that city officials expect will add traffic to Brunswick Lane.

“A signal at Brunswick Lane may therefore be highly desirable in the future,” City of DeLand Engineer Keith Riger told city commissioners in his written report.

In a meeting with area residents and motorists to get public comments about the intersection, DOT announced the changes to the median would cost $40,000, and were planned for completion no later than May 2009.

Following that meeting, DOT traffic-operations engineer Richard B. Morrow wrote a letter to one of the citizens who spoke out about the project.

“One of the major misconceptions that people have is the misunderstanding that traffic signals make all intersections safer,” Morrow wrote, continuing, “Unfortunately, this is not always the case. As a professional engineer that leads a staff of engineers devoted to making our roadways safer, I realize that most of the crashes along our roadways are actually at signalized intersections. This is especially true if traffic signals are not placed appropriately.”

— info@beacononlinenews.com

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