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Author Topic: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration  (Read 7591 times)

Max Rockatansky

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CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« on: December 25, 2016, 05:09:37 PM »

Something small to check out on my way to my ultimate destination for the holiday, figured it would be worth a minor thread since roundabouts and CA 43 got brought up in the CA 86 thread.  Basically I guess that part of the deal with Costco opening a store in Hanford along the northwest corner of 198 and 43 was an inclusion of a new roundabout for 43 at Lacey Blvd.  Considering how much truck traffic 43 gets from the local farms I found this kind of interesting but it seems to be a substantial upgrade over the old intersection.

Anyways approaching CA 43 on 198 you can see the new Costco, weird to see a redesign of a highway with a button-copy sign so close by.

The new roundabout still is missing an even grade and proper signage but the configuration is basically complete.  The far right lane in the roundabout accesses CA 43 north while the left goes to Lacey Blvd westbound.  I thought that the right lane was pretty decently wide enough for trucks to enter and access the truck station on eastbound Lacey:






Looping back southbound on 43 the situation looks to be little more dicey.  The left lane accesses CA 43 southbound while the right takes you to westbound Lacey.  Trucks definitely wouldn't be able to access the station on eastbound Lacey heading south given the embankments at the end of the roundabout.  If I was to speculate where the problems are going to be it will be with the southbound approach, especially at night. 








For those who don't know, Lacey Blvd was 198 up until the early 1960s when the freeway/expressway westbound to the Naval Air Station near Lemoore was built.  Until a couple months ago on the southbound approach on 43 to Lacey there was a "198 Business" sign present which is gone now that roundabout is almost complete.  I don't recall 198 Business being signed anywhere else along the old surface route of CA 198 in Kings County anywhere else. 

I was able to get a photo of the prior 43/Lacey intersection back in August when I was tracking the surface alignment of 198 and the Parkfield Grade:



I guess that's some pretty decent progress all things considered in just a couple months.  All the same probably among the most mundane things I've ever posted on the forum but anything to get me off that miserable slog that is 99.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2016, 02:04:08 PM by Max Rockatansky »
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andy3175

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2016, 01:40:34 AM »

I wonder if there will be additional landscaping once the roundabout is finished. Given the increased traffic, likely reduced speed limit, and somewhat urban feel of this section of SR 43 (newly urban?), in my opinion a roundabout here makes some sense (rather than having one in the middle of one of the major rural sections of SR 43 in the Central Valley). We'll see how it plays out.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2016, 09:03:50 AM »

I'm pretty sure that is pretty likely, the westbound exit of the roundabout onto Lacey is twin laned.  I'm thinking that the city of Hanford is going to push for a new shopping center given that they have annexed parcels of land on both sides of Lacey:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hanford,+CA+93230/@36.3234951,-119.6164904,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x8094c37b19af7a53:0x1b16a7e4c563f490!8m2!3d36.3274502!4d-119.6456844?hl=en

Which in a way is weird because directly west of that Costco is some pretty mauled up older buildings and businesses that look circa 1950s/60s.  I would imagine that once the property values increase it would be more attractive for the owners of those lands to sell for redevelopment. 

Even still its rare to find a brand new designed like that out in the boonies where it isn't flooded with traffic constantly.  I'll check back in a couple months to see where things have progressed.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2016, 01:14:33 PM by Max Rockatansky »
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NE2

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2016, 01:06:48 PM »

It's Costco.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2016, 01:13:53 PM »

It's Costco.

I was always more of a Sam's Club guy myself.  I'll go back and make some edits, isn't Cosco some Chinese shipping company?
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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2016, 03:07:10 PM »

It's Costco.

I was always more of a Sam's Club guy myself.  I'll go back and make some edits, isn't Cosco some Chinese shipping company?

Yes.  That's the name I see on shipping containers.

Note: I too was going to point out that it's Costco, not Cosco but NE2 beat me to it.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2016, 03:22:21 PM »

It's Costco.

I was always more of a Sam's Club guy myself.  I'll go back and make some edits, isn't Cosco some Chinese shipping company?

Yes.  That's the name I see on shipping containers.
Note: I too was going to point out that it's Costco, not Cosco but NE2 beat me to it.

Heh, yeah certainly didn't help my cause that I wrote that all up on the fly when I had a spare 10 minutes yesterday.  The "passengers" were furious that I deviated off the main pathway of travel to begin with.  I haven't told them we are taking 137 and 65 on the way home tomorrow morning either, we'll see how that plays out. 

Incidentally we might have brought up an interesting topic for Off-Topic; Sam's Club vs Costco.  Costco has a better selection but Sam's doesn't have the mob of people.  Rumor is that the Wal-Mart in Hanford was one of the highest volume in the state.  That being the case it would be sort of interesting to see if that translates to Costco or if that was telling that there wasn't enough retail outlets to support the population boom in Kings County.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2016, 03:32:37 PM by Max Rockatansky »
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mapman

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2017, 07:58:42 PM »

Looping back southbound on 43 the situation looks to be little more dicey.  The left lane accesses CA 43 southbound while the right takes you to westbound Lacey.  Trucks definitely wouldn't be able to access the station on eastbound Lacey heading south given the embankments at the end of the roundabout.  If I was to speculate where the problems are going to be it will be with the southbound approach, especially at night. 
else.

The truck apron around the center circle looks very wide, too -- usually they're only 2-3 feet off of the center circle.  Maybe, as you noted, trucks were predicted to have a harder time getting around the roundabout, necessitating a wider truck apron.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2017, 09:36:03 PM »

Looping back southbound on 43 the situation looks to be little more dicey.  The left lane accesses CA 43 southbound while the right takes you to westbound Lacey.  Trucks definitely wouldn't be able to access the station on eastbound Lacey heading south given the embankments at the end of the roundabout.  If I was to speculate where the problems are going to be it will be with the southbound approach, especially at night. 
else.

The truck apron around the center circle looks very wide, too -- usually they're only 2-3 feet off of the center circle.  Maybe, as you noted, trucks were predicted to have a harder time getting around the roundabout, necessitating a wider truck apron.

Seems to be the case.  Looks like they anticipated a lot of northbound CA 43 traffic turning west onto Lacey with the two lanes on top of that large apron.  Things look like a much tighter fit going southbound.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2017, 11:58:31 AM »

A new roundabout guide sign was posted when I rolled through on southbound 43 the other day:

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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2017, 03:13:09 PM »

Drove through today on the way to Fresno, there was new spade shields in the roundabout:

IMG_3875 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_3874 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_3873 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr
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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2017, 04:54:11 PM »

Nice. I can't find it at the moment, but I've got a document Caltrans put out showing their plans for about 200+ roundabouts they intend to install throughout the state. This one was listed, along with some others that have been recently completed (such as CA-154/CA-246 near Solvang).

I think once a full new generation of drivers have grown up with roundabouts, their design advantages over traditional junctions will become more apparent.
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2017, 07:22:15 PM »

Nice. I can't find it at the moment, but I've got a document Caltrans put out showing their plans for about 200+ roundabouts they intend to install throughout the state. This one was listed, along with some others that have been recently completed (such as CA-154/CA-246 near Solvang).

I think once a full new generation of drivers have grown up with roundabouts, their design advantages over traditional junctions will become more apparent.

Rumor was that some trucker already went into the median on the roundabout in the pictures apparently.  I can see the benefits for a rural road, but anything urbanized or rather with a ton of truck traffic like 43 needs to have some decent designs.  The pathway is much easier to follow the new guide signs at the very least.
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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #13 on: February 11, 2017, 04:23:11 AM »

As per your usual, nice pix, Max!  That CA 43 shield is one of the best-looking (numbers nice & even, kerned properly) signs I've seen in quite a while!  District 6 deserves kudos for that -- wish my home district (4) would take a hint and do likewise (some of the shit that's out there -- particularly on CA 85 and 87 -- is really pathetic!).

Rumor was that some trucker already went into the median on the roundabout in the pictures apparently.  I can see the benefits for a rural road, but anything urbanized or rather with a ton of truck traffic like 43 needs to have some decent designs.  The pathway is much easier to follow the new guide signs at the very least.

Maybe instead of landscaping the interior of the roundabout, they should lay out some tiles or cobblestones with tire-track patterns so when these incidents occur, it'll look like part of the decor! :D
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Max Rockatansky

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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #14 on: February 11, 2017, 09:25:34 AM »

As per your usual, nice pix, Max!  That CA 43 shield is one of the best-looking (numbers nice & even, kerned properly) signs I've seen in quite a while!  District 6 deserves kudos for that -- wish my home district (4) would take a hint and do likewise (some of the shit that's out there -- particularly on CA 85 and 87 -- is really pathetic!).

Rumor was that some trucker already went into the median on the roundabout in the pictures apparently.  I can see the benefits for a rural road, but anything urbanized or rather with a ton of truck traffic like 43 needs to have some decent designs.  The pathway is much easier to follow the new guide signs at the very least.

Maybe instead of landscaping the interior of the roundabout, they should lay out some tiles or cobblestones with tire-track patterns so when these incidents occur, it'll look like part of the decor! :D

Yeah those new shields were really striking, I thought they were oversized at first glance even...rare when you see something so new and crisp in the Central Valley.  Maybe they ought to threw a big rack of truck tires where the rock is presently?...at minimum maybe one of those signs will come up for scrap if I trucker takes it out.
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Re: CA 43/Lacey Blvd roundabout reconfiguration
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2017, 02:06:20 AM »

As per your usual, nice pix, Max!  That CA 43 shield is one of the best-looking (numbers nice & even, kerned properly) signs I've seen in quite a while!  District 6 deserves kudos for that -- wish my home district (4) would take a hint and do likewise (some of the shit that's out there -- particularly on CA 85 and 87 -- is really pathetic!).

The new CA-58 signs on the Hinkley Freeway are huge as well.  Wonder if this is a new trend.  In fact, the shields dwarf the "Freeway Entrance" signs above them.  Has anyone noticed that the "Freeway Entrance" signs appear to have new font and that these new font signs are taking over as the old signs are replaced.

Don

Fixed quoting. –Roadfro
« Last Edit: March 25, 2017, 01:30:31 PM by roadfro »
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