A citizen’s June 2nd letter, “I can’t see the trees for the light!” provides a good opportunity for the City of Lakewood to clarify some recent road engineering decisions. Over the last decade, the Motor and Whitman intersection had been the City’s top accident location, so a new signal was clearly in order. Shortly after the signal was installed, we had another accident; reduced visibility caused by large trees was a contributing factor. We did remove the trees but intend to plant shrubs in their place. We fully appreciate the value of trees. Few cities of our size have invested more in street trees than the City of Lakewood over the last 13 years but safety is paramount.
The route through this intersection continues to serve as a popular “Bridgeport bypass” to the west side of town – a fact we cannot engineer our way out of. The sequence of lights from this intersection to Bridgeport Way will be synchronized as part of an ongoing project replacing antiquated traffic signal controllers. It will just take a little time.
Finally, with respect to the two-year old traffic island at the Meadow/Devoken/Avondale intersection, the former five-legged, off-set intersection was reconfigured to a standard 4-legged intersection. The old sweeping curve encouraged speeding and local residents petitioned the City to make the change. The current configuration is not ideal, but meets public works standards for driver visibility and has reduced speeding.
Jeff Brewster
Communications Director
Irene Mazer says
Add this to the “What I love about Lakewood” list! Thank you, Mr. Brewster, for taking the time to explain the re-configuration at Whitman and Motor Aves, as well as the other intersection. I was not upset by the new lights because I had read earlier what a dangerous intersection that was, and had always approached it (several times a day sometimes) with trepidation.
Sincerely,
Irene R. Mazer