Why a remedy for accident-prone intersection near Riverbank won’t come for five years
The solution to an increase in crashes at an intersection outside Riverbank where a Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy died last year is at least five years away.
The North County Corridor is a planned expressway skirting Modesto, Riverbank and Oakdale to make for faster, smoother-flowing traffic but it will also solve the problems at Claribel Road and Terminal Avenue, which has seen a five-fold increase in crashes since changes were made there three years ago, according to data from the California Highway Patrol.
Plans for the North County Corridor include widening Claribel to a six lane expressway and raising it over several intersections, including Terminal and the railroad tracks, Oakdale Road, Roselle Avenue and the Modesto Irrigation District canal. The corridor also will go over McHenry Avenue and Coffee Road.
In April 2016, traffic lights replaced a four-way stop at the Claribel and Terminal intersection. The upgrades came after six people died in 2007 when their vehicle was hit by a train on the tracks that intersect with Claribel west of Terminal.
But from the time the lights were activated through November 2018, there were 64 collisions at or near the intersection. That compares to just 25 in the six previous years combined from 2010 through 2015.
After The Bee contacted county officials about the increase in crashes, traffic engineer Andrew Malizia began studying the data and taking a closer look at the causes for each of the collisions.
There are two traffic lights for eastbound drivers — one before the tracks and the other at the intersection for drivers who have already passed the first light when a train approaches. It is designed to clear the intersection before the train gets there.
Other upgrades include an 8-inch concrete barrier on Claribel to prevent eastbound drivers from traversing the opposing lane to skirt the railroad crossing arm and striping and signs to direct drivers to stop before the tracks on a red light.
No vehicles have been struck by trains at the intersection since 2007, but some drivers said in comments to The Bee that the upgrades are confusing, particularly the two-light system for eastbound traffic.
There has been one fatality at the intersection since 2016. In November, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Hinostroza, who was heading east on Claribel with his lights and siren on to respond to a pursuit, hit the concrete barrier just before hitting the pole, according to the CHP. The crash remains under investigation as authorities try to determine, among other factors, how fast Hinostroza was driving. The curb was repainted a bright yellow shortly after the crash and raised plastic reflectors were added.
“The data showed that driver error is the primary factor of these collisions,”said traffic engineer Malizia. “Time of day and weather conditions did not appear to be a factor.”
He said most of the crashes happened when people turning left failed to yield to through traffic.
“There is no real engineering solution because there is no room for dedicated left turn lanes,” Malizia said.
The same upgrades at Claribel and Terminal were made at Hatch Road and Santa Fe Avenue in November 2017, and they are expected to be completed at Geer Road and Santa Fe by the end of February.
But the upgrades at those intersections included widening to add left turn lanes. Malizia said that’s because they were paid for with a different funding source.
The Federal Grade Crossing program that paid for the upgrades at Claribel and Terminal did not include funding for widening the intersection, he said.
To spend money on widening it now would be “kind of a throwaway,” Malizia said, because the North County Corridor will essentially eliminate the intersection by raising Claribel so that it goes over the railroad tracks and Terminal.
The county last month secured a $20 million grant to help pay for the first phase of the project, a three-mile segment from Claribel and Coffee Road and Claus roads.
Other funding for the $91 million project is expected to come from a combination of County public facilities fees and Measure L sales tax revenue, as well as state funding and future grants.
County Public Works Director David Leamon said, “We have to be under construction by 2023 and completed by 2025.”
There will be a North County Corridor Authority meeting this Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Tenth Street Place Board Chambers located at in the basement of 1010 10th Street.
This story was originally published February 1, 2019 at 1:53 PM.
