County Survey Shows Wide Support For Improving Bigelow Gulch Road

Thu., Jan. 25, 1996

Adam Lynn Staff Writer

Some commuters support a $9.6 million plan to rebuild parts of Bigelow Gulch Road to eliminate curves, an unscientific survey found.

Another group of people has meanwhile launched a campaign to convince county officials the traffic problems can be fixed without using bulldozers.

Engineers distributed the surveys to the nearly 130 people who attended a recent meeting held to discuss concerns about the safety of Bigelow Gulch, a busy and dangerous commuter link between the Valley and the North Side.

Officials estimate that nearly 13,000 cars per day travel Bigelow Gulch Road between Market Street and Argonne Road. That number is expected to increase.

Since 1991, there have been nearly 175 accidents on Bigelow, prompting law enforcement officials, county engineers, commuters and residents to look for a solution to making the road safer.

More than 70 people - most of them from the North Side - completed the surveys, which asked residents to choose one of four realignment plans that county engineers see as a way to make the road safer.

Nearly 70 percent of them said they favor the plan that would straighten the road substantially.

The plan calls for realigning Bigelow along the current Wiele Road right-of-way, thus eliminating a long, curvy section of Bigelow that now bends north toward Orchard Road.

It also would widen the road to four lanes.

Engineers are looking for money to begin designing such a realignment project, according to a press release from the county public works department.

If the project ultimately wins approval, construction would not be completed for nearly 15 years.

Engineers also are considering short-term solutions to Bigelow’s traffic woes.

They include lowering the current 45 mph speed limit to 35 mph in curvy sections, prohibiting truck traffic and building left-turn lanes.

Some people feel those so-called short-term solutions would work in the long-term.

Nearly 20 people who live along Bigelow Gulch Road recently sent a letter to county engineers suggesting options for making the road safer without embarking on a major construction project.

They suggested posting electronic weather advisory signs on Bigelow Gulch and increasing police presence on the road in addition to lowering speed limits, prohibiting trucks and building turn lanes.

“What we suggest needs a fair trial before you get out the earth movers,” the letter said. “No amount of construction on Bigelow Gulch Road will make it an ideal high-traffic mover.”

, DataTimes

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