A system of automated warning signs will be installed next summer as a first step toward improving traffic safety along Highway 50 in the Camino area.
The El Dorado County Transportation Commission announced that it has been awarded $304,000 in federal Rural Safety Innovation Program funds for a project at the Still Meadows Road intersection next to Apple Cafe in the Apple Hill area.
Dan Bolster, a transportation planner for the commission, said the accident rate at the intersection is two-and-a-half times the average for a rural intersection in California.
A community advisory committee has been working with the commission and consultants to come up with long-term measures to improve safety along 4.5-mile stretch of Highway 50 east of Placerville from the Smith Flat Road interchange to just east of the Upper Carson Road intersection. That portion of the highway is characterized as an expressway with at-grade access from side roads and driveways.
"This is the first step in delivering that larger program," Bolster told the commission last week.
Residents had called for immediate action to reduce hazards created by speeding traffic on Highway 50 and vehicles turning left onto the highway from Still Meadows Road and the Apple Cafe. Bolster said the project at Still Meadows Road will employ what is known as "intelligent transportation system" technology. It will be the first such system on the Highway 50 corridor and will serve as a demonstration project for the state Department of Transportation.
Sensors will be installed in the pavement on Still Meadows Road at Highway 50. When a vehicle on Still Meadows pulls up to the stop sign, the censors will activate electronic message signs about 300 feet from the intersection, warning eastbound and westbound motorists on the highway that a vehicle is entering the roadway in front of them, Bolster said.
Permanent signs equipped with flashing lights also will be posted on the highway about 600 feet from the intersection warning motorists of cross traffic, he said.
The first such system was implemented in Virginia and was credited with a 40 percent reduction in broadside accidents, Bolster said.
In addition to the $304,000 in federal money, the county's Transportation Commission and Department of Transportation will contribute $38,000 each in matching funds for the project.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 608-7451.
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