http://www.news-tribune.net/articles/2005/08/29/news/the_evening_news/news01.txt

I/65/ Eastern Boulevard
Designed for danger

Crashes up 300 percent at new I-65/Eastern Boulevard interchange
Transportation official admits flawed design

Compilation of traffic accidents at the Eastern Boulevard overpass of I-65 from 2003 to 2005. Graphic by John L. Gilkey

The Indiana Department of Transportation's $250 million Revive 65 project was intended to increase capacity and safety along the I-65 corridor. But a dark side to the venture is starting to emerge as accident statistics begin to make it clear that design criteria employed in the project are resulting in significant increases in accidents.

A compilation of traffic accident statistics at the Eastern Boulevard overpass of I-65 by The Evening News dating back to 2003 shows that crashes at the intersection increased nearly 300 percent in 2004 when the interchange was completed, and are well on their way to exceeding that number for 2005.

Although the intersection is located between Jeffersonville and Clarksville, it is actually a part of neither city, but considered part of the unincorporated area of Clark County. As a result the Clark County Sheriff's Department is responsible for maintaining traffic patrols in the area.

The department's public information officer, Lt. Racheal Lee, supplied traffic accident statistics for the location ranging back through the beginning of 2003 to the first of August of this year. Those statistics showed that in 2003 there were 14 accidents at the location. That number soared to 42 in 2004 when the interchange was opened, and as of the first of August this year, the count had reached 32 and seems well on its way of exceeding the 2004 count.

According to Lee, "This is one of the most dangerous accident locations we have in the district, and it's dangerous because of the design they have used and the way they have cycled the lights."

It's not just the public having problems with the intersection. Lee said a Clark County Sheriff's car on routine patrol was broadsided at the intersection resulting in the officer being injured and the vehicle being declared a total loss.

"There have been numerous accidents at the interchange. At any given time you can go there and see debris from wrecked vehicles lying on the roadway. I believe the wall is the problem" Lee said.

INDOT admits problem

The wall she spoke of is what is termed an "MSE" wall according to Terry Summer, a INDOT traffic investigations engineer for the Seymour District which includes Clark and Floyd Counties. "The wall is designed to ensure that a vehicle cannot leave the roadway," Summer said. But he also admitted, "The wall does create some sight line problems."

MSE walls are situated on both sides of the Eastern Boulevard overpass as well as along the sides of ramps from the highway's controversial collector road system that cross Eastern Boulevard at traffic lights on both sides of the interstate.

The walls, nearly four feet tall, block the view of oncoming traffic in the intersecting lane of traffic creating a situation where motorists cannot see if oncoming traffic intends to stop at a red light until they are completely in the intersection.

Because of the 40-mile-per-hour speed on the collector road system, and the fact you enter the intersection blind to oncoming traffic, Lee says it's just a matter of time until there is a fatality at the intersection. "The way this thing is designed, the likelihood of someone getting seriously injured or killed is high," she said.

Summer agrees the intersection "Is an area of concern." He went on to say, "The wall design does limit the vision of oncoming traffic," but he says the design was a compromise to save money in the highway's design. "If we were to have built a full cloverleaf interchange, it would have taken a huge amount of land; as much as 10 acres. Because of the design, we were limited on right-of-way and the frontage road had to be designed to deal with the volume of traffic. Ideally we would like to have good sight line distances" Summer said there are sight line concerns at other locations within the scope of the Revive 65 project area because similar design criteria were used.

Design engineers during public meetings called the design concept a "compressed diamond" because of the way the collector roads stay so close to the overpass. Summer said the design created a very limited space on Eastern Boulevard for traffic waiting to turn onto the ramps and ultimately merge with the interstate.

Traffic cycles an issue

"When we first installed the signals system, we spent a lot of time working on the timing," Summer said. "What we have is about the best we are going to be able to get," he went on to say.

Some of the cycles can be extremely short, such as the left turn cycle from Eastern Boulevard onto the northbound collector road system which at times has been as short as three seconds.

"The timing on the cycles causes some aggravation, but we have it at the best efficiency we can," Summer said. He suggests motorists simply be more patient.

Lee said that in addition to the walls which blind motorists to oncoming traffic, the cycling of the lights is the next most serious problem.

"People become so aggravated by the signal cycles that they will take risks by gunning it to try and get through the intersection," Lee stressed. She said the department has identified the intersection as one to receive enhanced patrol under targeted area enforcement actions.

She said the department has parked a marked police car in the median of the overpass, and some motorists are so focused on the light and trying to make it through the intersection that they will run a red light right in front of a marked police cruiser, never knowing it is there. "They are fixated on the light and getting through the intersection," she said.

Although the intersection is not in the Town of Clarksville, town engineer Tom Clevidence made a recommendation to the state to create a delay where all sides have a red light for a few seconds to allow the intersection to clear, but Summer says that concept is now being abandoned, "Motorists soon become aware of the delay. They know they have a couple of seconds and they use that time to try and get through the intersection."

Followed state design

The intersection was designed by American Consulting Engineering of Indianapolis and signed by engineer Clinton Sparks who said he has not heard anything from INDOT about problems with the intersection.

"This is the first I have heard about the intersection since I delivered the plans. I have had no conversations with INDOT since six months before the project started when the plans were delivered," Sparks said.

He said the plans were drawn to meet INDOT specifications and were approved by the agency once he delivered them.

When asked about the 300 percent increase in accidents at the location, Sparks said he has, "no comment."

Summer said it is unlikely anything will be changed at the intersection - at least in the short term - because there simply aren't many options available short of rebuilding the intersection.

Lee says Clark County Sheriff's units will continue to patrol the area heavily in hopes of reducing the accident count as the body holiday season draws near saying her goal is to try and avoid the first fatal accident at the deadly intersection.