High-Accident Locations

[webny99]

What are some specific locations in your area that seem to have a lot of accidents, and what do you think causes the above-average levels of accidents? Is this just something you've noticed, or is there news reporting or other official documentation to support it?

Hopefully as we discuss we can find common themes, trends, and most importantly, solutions!

[Takumi]

Well, two of the five days I've worked at my current job, I've encountered an accident on westbound I-64 approaching the eastern I-95 interchange.

[I-55]

Any at grade intersection involving US-30. You'll see a lot of crosses along the road in Indiana because of the number of people who have been killed (I've known a few of them). This is one of the reasons I continue advocating for a full freeway upgrade. The likely culprits of this are winter weather and/or low speed limits. Winter weather is an obvious reason, the speed limit issue is that people are traveling way above the 60 mph limit (trucks are some of the biggest offenders) and people think they can make their turn/cross the road ahead of them but get hit and lose their lives. Part of it is the same reason people die at railroad crossings, the extra two minutes is way too important for them.

[Max Rockatansky]

Clovis Avenue and Central Avenue tends to produce some really nasty looking wrecks.  Most are from people running the light on Clovis.

[Ned Weasel]

Well, the Kansas City Star has a paywall, but law firms will give you info for free.  What a world!

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article130131584.html
https://krauseandkinsman.com/kansas-citys-most-dangerous-highways-and-roads/
https://www.dickersonoxton.com/top-10-dangerous-intersections-kansas-city-mo/
https://www.fpelaw.com/dangerous-intersections-kansas-city-mo/
https://www.kshb.com/news/state/missouri/new-study-suggests-kansas-city-has-most-dangerous-intersections-in-missouri
https://fox4kc.com/news/police-name-most-dangerous-kansas-city-intersections/

What I don't get is why the DDI at I-435 and Front Street makes a lot of these lists.

What I wish I knew is a good strategy to fix US 71 between I-435 and downtown KC.  People want it to be a freeway, people want it to be not a freeway, MoDOT needs mo money to make it a freeway?  Okay, what can we actually do in the meantime instead of just sitting around and talking about it for decades?

[webny99]

What I wish I knew is a good strategy to fix US 71 between I-435 and downtown KC.  People want it to be a freeway, people want it to be not a freeway ...

I think it should probably be a full freeway. In some places, it looks like there might even be enough room for a freeway in the median, and the existing road could become a service road.

MoDOT needs mo money to make it a freeway

I like what you did there. 

[kylebnjmnross]

I live right near a high-accident location. The infamous York Split Interchange, particularly the weaving between the entrance ramp from EB PA 581 to SB I-83 and the exit ramp to get off at Carlisle Road. Just the other morning, a crash closed the entire highway off.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2349719,-76.8917581,1379m/data=!3m1!1e3

[NWI_Irish96]

Right by my house, I-80/94 between I-294 and I-65 has at least one accident that shuts down travel lanes almost every day. I started a whole thread about how to fix it:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=27291.msg2521689#msg2521689

[jmacswimmer]

I'll give a since-rectified example that I grew up by: US 15 at Hayward Road just north of Frederick.

This was previously the first at-grade intersection on 15 north of the Frederick Freeway portion, and experienced many fatal collisions over the years since northbound traffic had to turn left across southbound traffic oncoming at freeway speed.  A number of temporary solutions were deployed over the years: Adding a flashing yellow on 15 south, moving the southbound right turn away from the intersection onto a small ramp, dropping the southbound speed limit from 55 to 50 in the area, and adding a whole host of unique yellow warning signage approaching the intersection.

These solutions were all used to buy time until the permanent solution was built: A new interchange just to the north at Monocacy Boulevard/Christophers Crossing and the permanent closure of the Hayward Road intersection.

[webny99]

I'll give a since-rectified example that I grew up by: US 15 at Hayward Road just north of Frederick.

This was previously the first at-grade intersection on 15 north of the Frederick Freeway portion, and experienced many fatal collisions over the years since northbound traffic had to turn left across southbound traffic oncoming at freeway speed.

Yikes, that looks like a nightmare.
Reminds me of an intersection in my area that I posted about recently:

... here ...
This was a high-accident location back in the 1990's, ultimately causing left turns from the divided highway onto the side street to be prohibited (you can see one of the no left turn signs in the Street View). You can still turn left out of the side street, though.

But it doesn't look like banning left turns would have been an option in the Frederick example, judging from the volume of cars making the movement. At least there was a turn lane, though - my example above didn't even have that!

[cpzilliacus]

I-495 (Capital Beltway) between Exit 31 (MD-97, Georgia Avenue) and Exit 39 (MD-190, River Road) has had a lot of crashes since the reduction of traffic in the middle of March, 2020 due to higher speeds resulting from COVID19-related shutdowns and lockdowns - especially tractor-trailer combinations in the rain.  Map here.

An especially bad spot for truck crashes in the rain is the half interchange at I-495 and I-270Y (270 Spur), Inner Loop Exit 38 here where speeding trucks lose control and crash (again, especially in the rain). Especially the Outer Loop side over I-270Y - though the day I wrote this, there was a tractor-trailer crash on the northbound lanes of I-270Y.