Satellite map of Elk Valley Cross Road corridor. Courtesy of www.dnltc.org.

Motorists and Del Norte residents will be able to provide input on the need for improvements to Elk Valley Cross Road next week.

This second of two meetings will be held at Sunset High School on Feb. 27. It comes as the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission conducts a study on the collision rate at the intersection of Elk Valley Cross Road and U.S. 199.

The report isn’t complete yet, DNLTC Director Tamera Leighton told the Wild Rivers Outpost. She said transportation commission staff is working with Caltrans to “figure out discrepancies of the data.”

“The reason why our numbers are different, we believe, is because our independent consultant took a 10-year deal and Caltrans took a more limited timeframe,” Leighton told the Outpost. “Caltrans is indicating, preliminarily, that they did some improvements at that location and they didn’t believe taking the whole 10-years was appropriate as it would not have considered any improvement.”

Elk Valley Cross Road connects U.S. 101 and 199 to Lake Earl Drive and Elk Valley Road. The Elk Valley Cross Road Corridor Plan is a study of the corridor and requires input from residents and other community members.

According to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who sits on the Local Transportation Commission, the DNLTC’s study has concluded that the collision rate is eight times higher than the state average and six times higher than Caltrans’ numbers.

According to Leighton, the improvements Caltrans made to that intersection include changing the lane configuration, putting up new signs as well as roadway striping. Caltrans also installed speed feedback signs at the U.S. 199 intersection with Elk Valley Cross Road.

Caltrans also installed a high-friction surface treatment on U.S. 199 to prevent motorists coming fast toward U.S. 101 from sliding into oncoming traffic and having severe collisions, Leighton told the Outpost.

Leighton said the DNLTC’s study is slated to be finished no later than the end of June, but will likely be out in May.

The Elk Valley Cross Road Corridor Plan open house will be held from 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m. Feb. 27 at Sunset High School, 2500 Elk Valley Cross Road in Crescent City. For more information, visit http://www.dnltc.org/projects.

SHARE →