By BARBARA HANEY, Ph.D.
Note: I write as a resident of the Nordale area; I don’t represent the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly in this column.
I am registering my objection to the proposed roundabout at the intersection of Nordale Road and Peede Road in Fairbanks.
I am not an “anti-round about” person; I think this type of traffic configuration works well with residential- retail-office type traffic in congested areas.
However, this type of configuration does not work well for intersections with significant truck and heavy equipment traffic and is not compatible with the type of traffic that often travels through the Nordale-Peede intersection. Further, the economic activity in the area is not compatible with roundabout traffic. Other safety strategies including improving visibility of traffic signs, turn lanes, grade changes, and speed limit changes would likely improve that intersection and should be considered before the roundabout configuration is considered.
The data to justify the project was requested and summarized in a table at the end of this tome. According to the traffic data made available by the Department of Transportation, there have been roughly two accidents a year over the 5-year period between 2017 and 2021 at the Nordale-Peede intersection.
Unlike Peede-Badger and Nordale-Badger where there have been fatalities, there have been no fatalities or injuries reported in the area. The overwhelming number of accidents are Eastbound on Peede and are due to a failure to stop at the intersection.
First-responders who have attended accidents at the intersection have indicated that the prevailing comment concerned visibility of the intersection. The intersection seemed to “come out of nowhere.” A sight visit to the area would make the visibility challenge abundantly clear. The comments in the DOT data seem to bear out the visibility issue. Vegetation and overgrowth are clearly a problem for drivers east bound on Peede; the stop sign at the intersection is just not visible until a driver is past Lolla Mae. This gives very little opportunity for motorists to brake.
I requested the traffic data and received the raw data set from DOT. I sorted the data by year, and removed traffic that was not explicitly at that intersection. Freeman Road, Lindsbourg, Cloverleaf, Nordale-Badger, Badger-Peede, the Alyeska yard, moose & mailbox incidents were removed from the data. The data was then sorted by year to see the frequency of events. The data is at the end of this column.
In examining the pictures above, the first picture was taken just before the intersection of Lolla Mae St and Peede Road, approaching the sign. The second picture is just after Lolla Mae St. and Peede. The stop sign at Nordale-Peede is covered by vegetation and is not visible. The stop sign is only visible after passing Lolla Mae Street. This gives drivers little time to reduce speed and stop. Foliage mitigation, such as cutting down trees, would be improve visibility immensely.
Furthermore, there is no indication that the intersection is a 2-way stop. Drivers who are not familiar with the area often assume that Nordale-Peede is a 4-way stop.
Signage indicating that cross traffic does not stop on the Nordale Road sign would be beneficial and alert drivers that the traffic on Nordale does not stop and to exercise patience would be helpful to people unfamiliar with the area.
Further, the data supports increasing visibility of the stop sign rather than a new configuration. In examining the data relevant to the project, “did not see stop sign” is a frequent cause of accidents. It would be far cheaper to chop down or trim the trees to improve stop sign visibility rather than construct a roundabout. There were no fatalities reported at this intersection. In contrast, there are intersections along Badger Road that have had significantly more accidents and fatalities. Problem intersections include Badger- Plack, Badger Nordale, and Badger-Peede. It would be more productive to use HSIP funds on those projects rather than a roundabout at Nordale-Peede.
Other configuration challenges
There are other configuration challenges at the Nordale-Peede intersection that could be addressed. These involve grade changes and line of sight during the winter months. Addressing these grade changes might also be helpful.
Peede sits much lower than Nordale. In vehicles that sit lower, such as sedan and compact vehicles, the view can easily be obstructed. A year ago there was extensive utility work by Golden Valley Electric Association near the intersection, and heavy equipment was often parked near that intersection. On a few occasions, this created a line-of-sight challenge for drivers.
Similarly, west-bound drivers crossing Nordale often contend with telecommunication trucks at the intersection. Snowberms also reduce visibility at the intersection, as they did in the winters of 2002-2023.
While these are temporary challenges, great care should be taken in considering the data against these projects where there were some line-of-sight challenges.
Road grade has also presented maintenance challenges. During the ice storm in December of 2022, DOT’s had significant equipment failures (ice breaker) that limited maintenance operations on both roads. Due to grade changes, a “small berm” on Nordale can appear to be a mountain when viewed from Peede. Further, the grade change from Nordale to Peede causes frost to accumulate on Peede, making it difficult for drivers to gain traction.
There is a similar road grade challenge at the intersection of Peede and Badger. Thus, it may be worthwhile examining changes to the road grade on Peede which would help both intersections rather than a roundabout.
Roundabout would be incompatible with traffic mix
The Nordale-Peede intersection is a major intersection used by recreational traffic. The Nordale Boat launch, the Peede snowmobile trail to Chena Lakes, Mushing on the Chena River (Yukon Quest), snow machine and four-wheeler trail use on the “Nordale Flats” is extensive. This results in a significant amount of traffic that involves trucks pulling trailers. Roundabouts can be difficult to navigate with trailers, particularly in icy conditions. Further, others seeking to enter the roundabout may not see an empty trailer being pulled by a truck and they enter the roundabout prematurely, resulting in accidents.
In addition, there is significant use of heavy equipment in Nordale – and only a small fraction is associated with the Alyeska yard. There are gravel pits in the area that are an important source for both private residents and DOT.
It is not unusual to see a forest mulcher on a lowboy trailer to clear timber. It is not uncommon to see logs being hauled to one of the various mills for processing. There are several shops in the area that cater to the repair of large commercial diesel engines that are often attached to large equipment. The Nordale area is an access point to various private lands and public owned lands which hold significant timber interests. Construction of a roundabout at Nordale-Peede would be a major impediment to the continued success of local businesses and the development of timber and gravel resources in that area.
There is extensive use of the GVEA easements by motorized recreational users. The utility corridors along Peede and Nordale are used extensively by ATVs and snowmachines year around to go to Badger Gas, the Peede Fishing area, and the bus stop. A roundabout would greatly disrupt that traffic and provide an incentive for users to cross Nordale at Ravenbell rather than Peede. This increase in traffic would increase the cost of maintenance of the Borda Road Service area.
A roundabout would also increase traffic in the Borda Road Service Area in other ways, raising maintenance costs. Recreational traffic, either on ATV or trucks with boat trailers, would seek ways to avoid the roundabout, irrespective of its construction. To avoid the roundabout, there would be an incentive to take Cloverleaf Dr. from Nordale to Peede, then Dakota St. to Ravenbell St. and back to Nordale. These roads are part of a borough road service area and maintained by property owners and their property tax funds.
The increased traffic will increase maintenance costs and make it burdensome for property owners in the area.
Prospects for Economic Development
Because of the traffic mix, it would be detrimental to the economic development and recreational prospects of this important part of the region. The area relies heavily on truck and heavy equipment traffic which is not compatible with a roundabout. The area has an extremely strong and vibrant role in recreational traffic. The area has significant heavy equipment traffic. Minor improvements such as a lighted stop sign in a visible location, signage warning drivers on Peede that cross traffic does not stop, a flashing light, reduction in vegetation and snowberms, & reductions in speed limits are all things that would improve the intersection for far less than the cost of a roundabout.
Constructing a roundabout will not improve visibility, nor will it address the road grade challenges that exist on Peede. Even a roundabout must be visible to be used successfully. While a roundabout could be built to accommodate truck traffic, it would require significantly more land than is under the current DOT easement. It would be a very heavy hand to solve a problem that can be readily remedied with simpler strategies.
Improvements & HSIP Priorities
There are several lower cost options that can be pursued to improve the safety of the intersection. Removing vegetation, improving visibility of traffic signs, indicating cross traffic does not stop to east bound drivers on Peede are all lower cost measures. Speed limit changes could also help.
HSIP funds are for intersections with high fatalities, not minor traffic incidents. There are several intersections in Badger-Nordale area that are far more worthy of consideration of large scale HSIP funds. To propose a roundabout at Nordale-Peede two weeks before the wake of a family that died on Badger on Dec. 3 seems a bit tone deaf by DOT to the community.
I strongly urge DOT to reconsider the Nordale-Peede roundabout project. It should not be adopted into the transportation plan by Fast Planning or the DOT.
Barbara Haney, Ph.D. is a resident of Fairbanks and serves on the borough Assembly but is writing in the capacity of a private citizen.
