Traffic has changed, time for fix

If the Jay County Commissioners want to begin the new year on the right foot, here’s a simple — but meaningful — suggestion: Address the intersection of Boundary Pike and county road 300 South.

That intersection was the scene of a heartbreaking traffic fatality only a few weeks ago, and the commissioners are in a position to make it safer.

The commissioners have already stepped up to the plate to improve a couple of other intersections: Boundary Pike and county road 200 South and roads 200 South and 100 West.

In both of those cases, changes in traffic patterns and road use made what had been pretty ordinary crossroads more dangerous. That’s clearly the case with Boundary and 300 South.

What has changed? Truck traffic. Big truck traffic.

East-west county roads south of Portland now get dramatically more semi-trailer traffic as a result of the county landfill, an ethanol plant, and a new egg production facility.

Any one of those three would have had an impact. The combination has proved deadly.

Earlier this year, the county installed flashing stop lights at roads 200 South and 100 West and Boundary and 200 South. Commissioners also made both those intersections four-way stops.

Is that the solution for Boundary and 300 South? We’ll leave that for highway engineers to determine.

But obviously the current situation can’t go on without some change.

Emergency workers at the scene of the recent fatality were stunned by the volume — and the speed — of heavy truck traffic on 300 South. 

The traffic environment at that intersection has been transformed.

One solution might be simply to change which traffic is required to stop at the intersection. For decades, the east-west traffic had to stop. Maybe it would be safer if drivers on Boundary Pike had to stop instead.

That wouldn’t lessen the truck traffic, but it would make drivers more wary about the dangers they face at that particular location. — J.R.