White City, Ore — Two fatal accidents at one Jackson county intersection in the last year. Now the state and county are looking at immediate options to save lives.
“We clearly are having problems at that intersection,” said John Vial with the Jackson County Roads Department.
The intersection of Highway 140 and Kershaw Road in White City has been the scene of two fatal accidents in the past year, state and local authorities are looking to prevent any more.
“ODOT is planning on building a roundabout, the county is looking to extend the road and that would all occur in 2020,” said Vial.
According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, roundabouts are significantly safer than stop signs or traffic signals.
“As you’re coming into the roundabout your speed are slowed as you come into the roundabout,” said Vial.
“The stats show, and we have built several on the state system in Oregon now, that a highway style roundabout is better than a signal on this type of facility, a high speed rural highway,” said Gary Leaming with ODOT.
That project won’t be ready for years, in the meantime ODOT is working on ideas for an immediate fix.
“Reducing the speed limit, to putting in some pre-warning beacons on some loops, if you will, on Kershaw to warn highway traffic that traffic is trying to cross there to some kind of rumble strips,” said Leaming.
Until then, road crews say safety is a two way street.
“People need to use personal accountability to drive safely, we’re going to do everything we can to make it safe, we ask the public to do the same,” said Vial.
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