Edison intersections to get wider near Kamiakin

KENNEWICK -- Edison Street near Kamiakin High School will be a construction zone all summer as Kennewick races to widen the roadway to make left turns onto Metaline Avenue going east and west safer.

The $1.2 million project is necessary because the Edison-Metaline intersections are among the most accident-prone in the city, said John Deskins, Kennewick's traffic engineer.

While the 48-foot-wide road is adequate to handle 15,000 vehicle trips per day, Deskins said trouble begins at rush hour when students arrive and leave the high school parking lot on Metaline.

Vehicles making left turns in the morning and afternoon when school traffic is greatest can get caught in rear-end accidents, he said.

"The project is to eliminate or reduce accidents," Deskins said, noting that crash statistics from 2002-04 show that Edison and Metaline were among the top 10 intersections in Kennewick for accidents.

And as the only intersection in the city's top 10 that doesn't have a traffic signal, the Edison-Metaline trouble spot really stands out, he added.

By not having a left-turn lane on Edison, drivers can be caught by surprise when a car in front of them has slowed to turn.

"It's the third car that usually can't stop in time," Deskins explained.

The historically high accident count at the intersections prompted Kennewick staff to apply for federal grants in 2005 to help fix the problem, said Steve Plummer, a city project engineer.

The grant came in 2006, but it has taken three years to obtain the rights of way and to negotiate a work schedule with BNSF Railway, which has a grade crossing in the project area.

The railroad has to install two more crossing arms because the existing ones won't reach far enough to span the 66 feet of pavement when the widening is completed.

An island will have to be installed between north and south lanes at the railroad crossing so the double set of crossing arms can reach the full distance, Plummer said.

In addition to the federal grant, the city of Kennewick is putting $269,000 toward the project. The railroad, which isn't contributing financially, will be reimbursed for its expenses, Plummer said.

Deskins said accident statistics show the Edison intersections going east on Metaline toward the high school and west on Metaline toward Tri-Tech Skills Center had 31 accidents over a three-year period. Last year it had 14.

That put the troubled intersection in a tie for second with Canal Drive and Edison Street. Deskins said only Columbia Center Boulevard and Clearwater Avenue exceeded that, with 17 accidents for the year.

Deskins said recent years' crash history on Edison between Clearwater Avenue and Canal Drive, excluding those intersections, give that segment of pavement the highest crash rate of any minor arterial street in the city.

The construction work will occur on Edison between Hood Avenue and Okanogan Street.

The goal is to have the project completed by fall so drivers will have enough elbow room to get around left-turning vehicles before school resumes, Plummer said.

-- John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricity herald.com