The half-signal now. Courtesy of Caltrans.


PREVIOUSLY

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By this month’s end, the Highway 101 Safety Corridor will be a new beast. 

A half-signal being constructed where the highway intersects with Airport Road just north of Eureka will be finished near the end of July, according to Caltrans spokesman Myles Cochrane. The signal will stop northbound traffic to allow drivers coming from Airport Road smooth ingress to the flow of traffic. Southbound drivers won’t be affected.

“This safety improvement is aimed at addressing collision rates well above the statewide average for similar facilities,” Cochrane wrote.

That isn’t all. Caltrans is also closing all of the remaining median crossings, the sphincter-tightening east-west dashes across two lanes of oncoming traffic at the Bayside cutoff, Mid-City Motors, Bracut, and the old mill in Brainard. It’s a move calculated to force drivers to use the new Indianola Undercrossing, where the likelihood of getting broadsided at 55 miles an hour is a lot lower. 

“These changes are intended to…make Humboldt County’s most traveled stretch of roadway safer and more reliable for drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, goods movement, emergency responders and local communities,” Cochrane wrote. “This project has been years in the making, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as crews work through these final stages. Please continue to slow down, stay alert and slow for the cone zone.”

It’s a new era. 

A mockup of what the traffic pattern there will look like when completed.