ACHD's Road Wizard Sunday, March 8, 2020

This was featured in the Road Wizard in 2016 from someone who voiced similar concerns.

Four years ago, ACHD consulted with ITD prior to their pavement overlay on the ramp. Collectively, the two entities felt the new lane configuration served traffic more efficiently based on turn counts for the majority of the calendar year (it used to be, as you mentioned, an exclusive left turn with a through lane and a shared through/right turn lane). Two lanes proceed across the intersection today (as they once did), though now the left lane shares the through lane and the right lane is a right-turn-only lane.

All items referenced in the column were completed as promised. ACHD crews enhanced lane tracking across the intersection with a plastic, more durable material and mall property management refreshed the striping on the west leg of the intersection. Unfortunately, rougher winters can take a toll on striping, including roads where the District has no maintenance responsibility. Fortunately, the more durable material has held up very well over the years.

ACHD performed observations in April 2017 to investigate vehicles potentially slaloming across Cole. Observations showed some misdirection by westbound traffic, but not enough to cause significant alarm. The signal heads are appropriately aligned, though District staff considered reorienting them to the right to account for the shift through the intersection. Doing so would mean the left/through lane signal head would be well out of the field of vision from oncoming vehicles, which could cause another set of entirely unrelated issues associated with the lack of signal head visibility. District staff sent an email to Towne Square Mall management regarding lack of lane-marking visibility on the east leg of the intersection, and they were eventually refreshed later that summer, though they have since faded and could stand to be refreshed again.