AURORA | The intersection of East Quincy Avenue and South Parker Road is so congested during morning rush hour, it’s not unusual to see commuters backed up for blocks to East Smoky Hill Road. While help is a long ways off, at least a clearer picture of what can be done is close at hand.
“The intersections of Smoky Hill and Quincy, and Quincy and Parker, they’re so close together, they operate as a system,” said Mac Callison, Aurora’s transportation planning supervisor.
The infamous crossroad has seen 75 crashes in the past year, said Lt. Jeff Turner, who oversees the police department’s traffic section. City staff say many of those accidents are due to the dangerous weaving and merging that happens on Quincy between Parker and Smoky Hill because of the congestion.
On July 14, Aurora City Council approved a $451,000 study that will look at what improvements can be made to the two neighboring intersections. The study is expected to last for a year and will stretch a half mile to the north, south and east from both intersections.
“We want to capture vehicle turning movements at different times of the day, during morning rush hour and evening rush hour, to identify the safety improvements that can be made,” Callison said.
The city will pay for $212,000 of the study, with the rest being matched by federal dollars.
Callison added the city would ultimately like to see the Quincy-Parker intersection developed similarly to the intersection at Parker Road and East Hampden Avenue, with a bridge and on- and off-ramps. But he said, because flyovers can cost from $30 million to $40 million, the city is looking for short-term solutions to improve traffic flow. He said the study would be looking at things like how to improve the timing of signal lights at turn lanes.
“With completion of the study, we’ll advance recommendations for a project. Then we’ll seek additional grant funding that would complete the design and actual construction of those improvements,” he said.
Federal dollars for the study are provided by the Denver Regional Council of Governments Transportation Improvement Program, which identifies transportation projects to be completed in the Denver region over a six-year period with federal, state or local money.
Aurora City Councilman Bob Roth, whose ward encompasses the study area, said the Denver Regional Council of Governments awards money to five or six transportation projects each year in the city.
”This is really a matter of taking a look, and seeing what the best solution is,” he said of the study.
Not sure why they need a huge study you can create the layout in sim city or another simulation software then make changes and see which works. They need more lanes or a better way for the traffic to go rather than Parker road.