Anyone who frequently uses Highway 270 at its intersection with Highway 58 has had that awful moment when a vehicle appears seemingly out of nowhere just as they are trying to cross the highway. There is that ‘Oh, snap’ feeling a step on the accelerator or the brakes. The location has been the scene of multiple serious accidents, many with fatalities.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is ready to begin on reconstruction at the notorious ‘Y’ intersection nine miles west of Watonga. The work will level and straighten the highway west of the intersection, where a slight curve and hill cause what some have called an optical illusion. Basically, the topography can hide an approaching vehicle.
The plans include a large deceleration lane with a slow curve from the highway (270) eastbound onto Highway 58 toward Thomas. An additional acceleration lane will merge traffic from 58 coming from Canton onto westbound 270. The plans also include widening Highway 58 for about a mile either side of the intersection.
However, area resident Candy Masquelier said that doesn’t address the problem with the intersection. She and her husband and farm and ranch in the three counties that run adjacent to the Y, and the family lives about three-quarters of a mile west of the intersection.
“I am deeply concerned that the intersection itself is being left unchanged. As it stands, drivers traveling north from Highway 33 toward Canton must cross four lanes of traffic. This is the primary cause of the accidents: northbound drivers failing to yield to the heavy west-east traffic. The southbound traffic has many Southwestern State University students that cross that intersection every morning,” she wrote in an email to District 59 Rep. Mike Dobrinski. She also mentioned school buses for Thomas-Fay-Custer and Chisolm Trail Technology Center crossing the intersection multiple times a day. She suggested the state build an overpass for Highway 58 over Highway 270 to eliminate the issue.
Dobrinski said he asked the engineers to increase the deceleration lane distance from the turn, but Masquelier replied he did not seem to address the problem, which she detailed as the north south traffic having to cross the four lanes of traffic which does not stop at the intersection.
The plans also include work on the grade, ditches, drainage and repaving or resurfacing the roadway itself. The work on the grade, or the rise and fall of the roadway as it approaches the intersection, could improve the line of sight for vehicles approaching the highway from the north south roadway.
The ODOT plans don’t include any closure of the roadways or the intersection to accommodate the road work, meaning the congestion in the area will be worse before it gets better.
Part of the dissatisfaction with the construction is the ongoing $14 million project to four lane a six mile portion of the highway just west of the intersection. That work is scheduled to be completed in the next 60 days.
Work on the Y was scheduled to begin on September 9. Engineers’ estimates indicate the cost at about $22 million and is expected to take about a year.
There is no indication whether a traffic light or other traffic control device will be installed after the construction is completed. Any traffic device would have to be approved and installed by the state transportation agency, as Highway 270 is state controlled.