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Dianne Hardisty: Dodging cars along scary Fairfax detour
| Thursday, Jul 31 2008 11:11 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 1 2008 8:03 AM
When your route to work is interrupted by a major highway project, you can get downright desperate.
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I live north of Highway 178, west of Fairfax Road. Every working day, I would climb into my Honda, point it east on Panorama Drive, south on Fairfax Road and then onto Highway 178 en route to The Californian downtown.
Last fall, work began on a multi-million-dollar overpass at the intersection of Fairfax Road and Highway 178. Recently the work became so serious that people living in this northeast Bakersfield quadrant can no longer enter Highway 178 from southbound Fairfax Road.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not grumpy about that. When completed, the long-awaited overpass and onramps will be a godsend. The intersection had been controlled by a signal light that backed up traffic at peak commute times and caused many gnarly accidents.
But finding a way around the roadblock proved challenging. My instinct was to follow westbound surface roads. But I found this route clogged by slow-go traffic and signal lights. The most direct route on westbound Auburn Street is dug up to relocate a water line.
I thought I was so clever when I discovered a faster route that requires backtracking about a mile east on Panorama Drive, south on Fairfax, east on Auburn, south on Morning Drive and then west on Highway 178. Only two lights and little traffic.
But soon I found I was not alone on this "officially" designated detour. A stream of traffic going to and from work in the mornings and afternoons has joined me.
I also discovered the route is plagued by traffic hazards. If they tried, the city could not have made this route more dangerous. Auburn Street and Morning Drive give a new, scary definition to the term "blind intersection."
Let's begin with southbound Morning Drive, which is designated an arterial. With no posted speed limit signs, traffic zips along at 55 mph. Southbound Morning Drive climbs steeply from around Morningstar Avenue, cresting smack-dab in the Auburn Street intersection. On Morning Drive, there is no sign warning that there even is an intersection at Auburn.
The only sign is one telling motorists to stop at Highway 178, which is south of Auburn. Dodging speeding vehicles suddenly cresting at Auburn is particularly dangerous for motorists turning left, or west from northbound Morning Drive onto Auburn.
To make matters worse, tall berms of dirt are piled along the edges of an empty field on the northwest corner of Auburn and Morning Drive. They prevent motorists on Morning Drive and Auburn from seeing approaching vehicles.
I have written to the city's traffic engineer, public works director, city attorney and my city councilman, Ken Weir, calling their attention to these hazards.
The big fix is to correct Morning Drive's "vertical curve" traffic-eze for "it's too steep." Short of that, I offered short-term solutions:
Run a grader along the edges of the vacant field to remove the dirt berms and allow motorists to see oncoming traffic. Post a speed limit along Morning Drive to slow traffic. Place an intersection warning sign for motorists approaching Auburn.
On my daily commutes, I dodge GET buses, trucks, heavy equipment and speeding cars at that intersection. Just west of the intersection is Canyon Hills Church that lets loose hundreds of cars after services. Certainly the city will want to make it safer. I will keep you posted on their response.
E-mail Dianne Hardisty at dhardisty@bakersfield.com.