Hanford drops plan for one-way traffic

HANFORD — Plans to turn both lanes of Route 4 South into a one-way road leading out of Hanford for the late afternoon commute have been dropped.

Making the road one-way for a couple of hours a day was one proposal to ease traffic congestion and related safety problems at Hanford during rush hour.

But Hanford employees were told Thursday that the change proved impractical. The chief concern was that responding to an emergency would be difficult if Route 4 traffic flowed in only one direction in the afternoon from Canton Avenue to the Wye Barricade.

The change, which would have been only on the part of the nuclear reservation closed to the public, was to take effect Sept. 21.

The proposal had a "vigorous and thorough" evaluation by Mission Support Alliance, the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council and Hanford emergency response organizations before the project was canceled, according to information provided to workers.

The Benton County Sheriff's Office, the Washington State Patrol and Transportation Solutions, which had been hired to do a traffic study, also provided input.

The change had been proposed as a way to provide increased road capacity during the peak traffic time period and to help ease conflicts caused by cars driving different speeds.

The study found -- as workers were reporting -- that some aggressive drivers were trying to pass long strings of cars at once, often at high speeds and sometimes in no-passing zones on Route 4 South.

However, other changes are going forward that Mission Support Alliance, the Hanford support services contractor, believes should help improve traffic safety.

The speed limit south of the Wye Barricade was raised from 55 to 60 mph in mid-July. Anecdotal evidence indicates that change is working well, said Jeff Dennison, spokesman for Mission Support Alliance. The change has been made on a pilot basis and employee comments will be collected and considered before it is made permanent.

In addition, construction on the intersection of Route 3 and Route 4 South should be completed by the second week of November to reduce traffic congestion there. Work also should be done then to add turnouts or widen shoulders on Route 4 South and Route 3, which will give the Benton County Sheriff's Office safer places to pull vehicles over.

Traffic safety became a larger concern after the number of employees on site increased because of hiring with economic stimulus money and a decision to have certain workers based at the site rather than in Richland.

According to a traffic study, about 8,300 cars enter Hanford each day through three security gates.

* More Hanford news at hanfordnews.com.

This story was originally published September 10, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Hanford drops plan for one-way traffic."