Round-A-Bout Is Among Options Being Explored For Safety Improvements At North Y In Spencer
Round-A-Bout Is Among Options Being Explored For Safety Improvements At North Y In Spencer
April 20, 2022Steve Schwaller
(Spencer)– Some major changes could be coming to a dangerous intersection on the north side of Spencer. Dakin Schultz, a district transportation planner with the Iowa Department of Transportation, says they’ve been in talks with city and county officials about several possible options for the north intersection of U.S. Highways 71 and 18, or the North Y. He says one of those involves a round-a-bout…
“What we found out on the accident history is speed is a contributing factor and it’s mostly that southbound traffic coming into Spencer. So of all the options we looked at, not only does a round-a-bout require a reduced speed being posted, but operationally as well as folks have to travel about 20 mph through a round-a-bout to work it.”
Schultz outlines some of the other options on the table…
“One is an arc cut is what it’s called, and essentially what happens there is the minor road, so that being B-19 and U.S. 18, the east-west route, could not go across the median. So if you were coming along on the Spencer bypass and wanted to go into Spencer, we would make you take a right and do U-turn in the median and head into Spencer that way. The others are offset T’s, an offset T intersection. So instead of having U.S. 18 and B-19 straight across from each other, we would split them so the east leg and the west leg are about 1,000 feet apart. So one was looking at that east leg moving south about 1,000 feet; the other was taking that east leg of the intersection and moving it north about 1,000 feet, about 900 feet.”
Schultz says for now they’re waiting to hear from local officials on what option they would prefer…
“We’ve provided the information to both the city and to the county board of supervisors. We’ve had good feedback. We’ve asked if they have any more questions or would like to visit again, we’re happy to come back. But certainly we want to see some safety improvements on that north intersection, so.”
Schultz says any construction would be at least five years out. Changes were made to the intersection in 2015 and again in 2016, but accidents, some of them bad, have continued there.
