ACHD's Road Wizard
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Warm Springs Avenue closure due to loose rocks off the Mesa causes traffic congestion at Broadway Avenue; property owner not allowed to restrict parking with big rocks and non-regulartory signs on Bogus Basin Road near Corrals Trail
The Road Wizard Replies
Dear Road Wizard: Since the closure of the Warm Springs Mesa portion of Warm Springs Avenue, so many of us are forced to take Parkcenter Boulevard to get from the North End
North End Commuter
to the East End of Boise. Honestly, I would rather risk being crushed by a boulder
on the Mesa than endure the heinous bottleneck that occurs every Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. traveling west on Parkcenter at the junction of Broadway Avenue. Sadly, there is just one lane on Parkcenter that allows a right turn onto Broadway, and that lane of traffic doesn't move because the traffic on Broadway is backed up from the light at Warm Springs. I sat there for 10 minutes recently. People get impatient and take a shortcut through the Chick-fil-A parking lot, and then try to get onto Broadway. This situation is seriously dangerous, with lots of jockeying for position and last-minute lane changes.
Road Wizard:
Driving around the closed portion of Warm Springs is like having to wear a cast for a broken arm for several months. Necessary, but such a nuisance.
The steep Mesa hillside is subject to erosion every year, but this winter's severe weather created closure-worthy, falling-rock risks.
With help from a local geotechnical firm, the slope was analyzed and stabilized with the removal of loose boulders and rocks. And as luck would have it, as of this week the Mesa's remaining rock-bones have been doctored enough to reopen Warm Springs.
"North End Commuter" provided some thoughtful suggestions for improving traffic flow if the closure went on any longer. Perhaps more could have been done to better move traffic weeks ago, but the closure was at the whim of Mother Nature, which makes it hard to determine if complicated temporary signal timing adjustments would have been worth the trouble.
Next on the agenda for Warm Springs is more of a man-made cause for congestion. Road projects associated with the St. Luke's Boise Medical Center expansion will begin next month around Fort Street, Jefferson Street, and more. ACHD does plan to adjust signal timing to help move Warm Springs traffic through all of that, but it will be a challenging travel area for several months.
Dear Road Wizard: As I was driving down Bogus Basin Road with my five-year-old, I passed the Corrals Trail access and noticed that there was a massive amount of boulders, rocks and concrete piled into the right-of-way along with a non-ACHD "No Parking" sign. I thought about what I would have done had I blown a tire or had to swerve to miss a person/deer or other road debris. It certainly wouldn't be safe to use the shoulder to avoid an emergency, and it could cause someone to careen into oncoming traffic. It looks like the homeowner has claimed the right-of-way as his/her own. Jon
Jon
Road Wizard:
The property owner may be fed up with people parking near private property, but this type of vigilante traffic control is not acceptable. The rocks, etc. are indeed in ACHD's right-of-way and need to be removed.
A friendly notice was put on the owner's gate asking them to contact ACHD about the matter. That hasn't happened, so the next step is for ACHD to send a stern letter demanding the removal of the material.
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