The in basket: Josh Farley, city reporter for The Sun, e-mailed to say, “I’ve been talking with some employees and residents in Manette about the intersection of Pitt Avenue at East 11th Street. Lots of people take the right-hand turn from East 11th onto Pitt at quite the pace, prompting some to call for a yield sign or some lights to be put along the crosswalk. Also, the stop sign on Pitt Avenue at East 11th is, strangely, on a telephone pole rather than the street sign. Any chance you could check into these issues?”
The out basket: The last time I wrote about East 11th and Pitt, it was from the perspective of drivers who wanted the flow from Harkins to East 11th made smoother. Gunnar Fridriksson, head of the city street engineers, said then the residents of the area preferred that the flow through that double-dogleg turn be kept awkward for safety.
That’s still true, he told me when I asked about hope among Manette denizens the flow in the opposite direction could be made safer.
Gunnar said there have been some close calls at that intersection, but not a lot of accidents. Drivers occasionally expect westbound drivers to turn right or stop, and start to pull out. When a westbound vehicle goes straight, as it is legally entitled to do, good fortune has so far prevented an accident
“We have received a couple of comments that we should add a stop sign at westbound East 11th at Pitt,” he said, “that there have been a few near-misses with drivers who went through instead of making the right onto Pitt. But to date we have not really had much of an accident history here, or reason to do so as the predominant movement is the right turn.
“And we do not want to do the in-pavement lighting,” he said. “That is being shown to be a maintenance nightmare with various jurisdictions.”
I don’t know where a Yield sign would be put to improve anything. There’s nothing to yield to, except pedestrians, and a sign might confuse drivers.
I own a business at this intersection, it is such a serious problem. Someone is going to get seriously hurt at this intersection. Traffic traveling way to fast up and down 11th, plus the confusion at that intersection is a disaster waiting to happen. This should be looked at closer BEFORE traffic issues happen.
It’s kind of funny that some are saying this intersection is dangerous, when there are far more dangerous intersections nearby.
1. 11th & Trenton
2. The roundabout (those coming off the bridge into the circle)
3. Park & 6th St. (The worst of all from my perspective)
Someone also made a comment on another page concerning this subject that I appreciated. “It’s like an intelligence test, whether they wait to turn left until it’s clear”
I am driving down and up 11th, through Pitt at least 2 to 3 times a day and it always stop for pedestrians and I always see majority of drivers handle this intersection the correct way.
It’s usually drivers that don’t pay attention that mess up that intersection and there isn’t really anything you can do to make those kind of drivers pay attention. Those types of drivers are dangerous anywhere on the road.