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Posted : Aug 28, 2013 12:15:25
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A new intersection with new Led traffic signal(www.nobleled.com/en/showroom/LED_traffic_light/200mm_led_traffic/200mm-led-traffic-signal-light.html) that opened Monday on Brookshire Boulevard at Oakdale Road is expected to be a major improvement for safety and congestion in the northwest Charlotte corridor.
Karl Henrich has lived in the nearby Pinebrook neighborhood nearly a decade and said he believes the new intersection will make a noticeable difference.
¡°Hopefully it¡¯ll cut down on the accidents out there, and the people doing 75 mph (on Brookshire),¡± he said.
The reconfigured intersection includes a traffic signal light and other improvements city officials believe will make the congested intersection safer.
Previously, Oakdale Road drivers trying to turn left to travel into Charlotte did not have a traffic signal light but had to cross two lanes of outbound traffic, then wait in the median for a break in the two lanes of inbound motorists.
Residents said oncoming Brookshire Boulevard traffic traveled much faster than the posted 45 mph. Meanwhile, traffic on Oakdale could back up more than 20 vehicles during peak travel times, as motorists waited to cross.
The $6.2 million project also includes reconfiguring the nearby intersection with Hovis Road.
Located north of Interstate 85, Hovis and Oakdale roads used to join Brookshire Boulevard at skewed angles near the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Reservoir, and with only one traffic signal light(www.nobleled.com/en/showroom/LED_traffic_light/200mm_led_traffic/200mm-led-traffic-signal-light.html).
When the job is done, both intersections will have traditional 90-degree angles and each will have a traffic light. The entire project is on track to be finished in September, according to officials.
Another major improvement is moving the intersection of Oakdale and Brookshire north roughly 600 feet, separating it from Hovis.
Blythe Development is the contractor, and the job is paid for by previous transportation bonds, said Derrel Poole of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Engineering and Property Management.
In April, Poole said Charlotte Department of Transportation¡¯s high accident listings reported 58 collisions at Brookshire and Oakdale in the past five years, and 16 at the intersection of Brookshire and Hovis.
Poole said he didn¡¯t have specifics on whether those numbers had changed much during the past few months of construction, but said the traffic signal light that was activated mid-day Monday will ¡°definitely¡± make the Oakdale intersection safer.
Henrich is waiting to see how the finished project will look, but said the Oakdale signal that opened Monday is ¡°the best thing about it.¡±
During his daily delivery work, Henrich said, he crosses the intersection at least four times a day and used to avoid it during morning and evening rush hours.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what time of day anymore, the Led arrow light(www.nobleled.com/en/showroom/LED_traffic_light/300mm_traffic_module/300mm-amber-arrow-led-traffic-light-core.html) will make it easier,¡± he said. ¡°...Cars won¡¯t be sitting (on Oakdale) for a half-mile to a mile back.¡± |
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