The Juneau Assembly passed a resolution at a special meeting Wednesday asking the state Department of Transportation to do something quickly to fix one of Juneau’s most dangerous intersections.
At least one person died this summer at what’s known as the Fred Meyer intersection — where Yandukin Drive crosses Egan Drive. There have been dozens of accidents at the intersection, including 17 with injuries in the last ten years.
Reading from the resolution, City Clerk Beth McEwen said the city was calling for “immediate and substantial improvements” to prevent more crashes.
“Itʼs really been in the works since the fatality in June,” City Manager Rorie Watt said.
The need for a fix has been talked about for years. In 2021, the city released the results of a study on possible improvements. Its top recommendation was to add a stoplight to the intersection, but many public comments opposed that idea.
This summer, temporary improvement suggestions included longer medians and a 10 mph speed reduction in the winter.
Mayor Beth Weldon said Wednesday that she doesnʼt think the speed reduction would help.
“Out of curiosity, I drove 55,” she said. “And was by far the slowest car on the road. And I don’t think changing the speed limit is going to change the speed of the vehicles too much.”
Weldon said she thinks the left turn into Fred Meyer should be done away with completely. The 2021 study said left turns caused most of the accidents.
“I think anybody coming inbound on Egan Drive would get used to not being able to turn left into Fred Meyer and going about half a mile more and coming off there,” she said.
The resolution asks the state to use data and recommendations from the 2021 study and act quickly, installing short-term improvements now, using funding from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Juneau City Clerk Beth McEwen’s name.
