Tim from Aurora writes, “What’s driving you crazy? I was wondering why the roundabout at Uinta Way and 6th Avenue has little to no road striping at all. It’s missing the yield markings on some sides, the crosswalk bars, and roadway edge lines. It could use them since there’s lots of car and pedestrian traffic.”
Not only is there lots of car traffic through that roundabout as you mentioned, but as I saw when I was out there, the drivers go really fast, making pedestrians like me feel less than safe when crossing the street. In general, I like roundabouts. They are an easy way to keep traffic flowing, saving time and money for drivers and cities. However, some drivers have a challenge navigating them, especially if they are driving too quickly.
When I was out there looking at the road markings, besides the double yellow line on Uinta Way — north and south of the roundabout — I only saw a few white diamonds separating eastbound 6th Ave. from the circle and northbound Uinta into the circle. When I checked Google Maps Street View, I wanted to look back to see when the intersection was full of street markings. I went back ten years and the intersection looked basically the same then as it does now.
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I asked Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure about the road markings. They told me after our conversation, they had their operations team go out and look at this roundabout. They told me what you and I already know, some signs and pavement markings are missing, so the city says they immediately created work orders to make these changes and improvements. The city said the changes include:
“Heading northbound on Uinta (east side of Uinta), we’re going to add a sign that signals to drivers that a roundabout is ahead and it will have a 15-mph sign attached to it. That sign will better communicate the slower speed limit in the roundabout as people approach. In addition to adding that sign on northbound Uinta, we have a missing pedestrian crossing sign on northbound Uinta where there are pedestrian ramps just before the roundabout. That missing pedestrian crossing sign will be replaced. On southbound Uinta (west side of Uinta) just before the roundabout, we have some missing pavement markings that indicate “Yield.” Replacing those markings will help increase safety and slow speeds.”
The city told me, they are not planning to add pavement markings indicating how to navigate the roundabout in or just ahead of the roundabout itself. They said, they usually reserve those pavement markings when there are two lanes entering the roundabout, which is not the case here.
The city said, they have no history of pavement markings and signage for the crosswalks around the roundabout and they said, that has also been corrected. There are six of them — four on Uinta with two north of the roundabout and two south of it. There are two more crosswalks on the east side of the roundabout along 6th Ave.
“We’re hopeful adding signs and pavement markings at this location and new crosswalks will slow drivers down and draw attention to pedestrian activity in the area," the city said. "We urge drivers to adhere to the speed limit and look out for those walking and biking; how fast someone is driving is a significant factor in the severity of crashes and resulting injuries.”
The city told me, they finished all sign installation and finished the crosswalks Monday. There was minimal impact to commuters during work hours and the city hopes now that the changes have been made, the roundabout will be a safer place through which to walk, bike and drive.
Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.
