For two years, while Interstate 10 was under construction through downtown Tucson, the only saving grace for drivers forced to use the crowded frontage roads was not having to worry about merging with traffic exiting the freeway.
But now that the I-10 widening project is complete, and all of the exits through downtown are open, some frontage road users have apparently gotten in the habit of cruising past yield signs, making the process of merging with exiting freeway traffic a harrowing experience, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
"We've received some complaints that people are failing to yield," said ADOT spokeswoman Linda Ritter, who contacted Tucson police in September to see what could be done. "Those on the frontage road need to yield to cars that are coming from the interstate."
The Tucson Police Department has begun a special enforcement program to target frontage road drivers who fail to yield, spokeswoman Sgt. Diana Lopez said.
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No numbers were available from the program, which Lopez described Monday as being in "its infancy."
The yield signs along North and South Freeway roads are a new addition as part of the recently completed widening of I-10 from West Prince Road to West 29th Street, Ritter said.
Before the widening began the frontage road had stop signs in place to allow drivers exiting the freeway to have clear access to surface streets, she said. The stop signs were necessary because the previous freeway off ramps were shorter and had only one lane, she said.
The new off ramps are longer and each has two lanes.
"The configuration of the road now warrants these (yield) signs," Ritter said. "This is a new project, and we'd like to draw attention to the yield signs, and the need for our drivers to yield, to obey those signs."
Few accidents have been reported along the frontage roads in the downtown area since the freeway exits reopened in the summer, police records show.
Since July 1, Tucson police has received reports of 11 accidents along the downtown frontage roads, records show. Only three of those accidents occurred during times generally considered part of the morning or evening rush-hour periods, when traffic is heaviest.
Failing to yield is a traffic violation that occurs just as often as not stopping at a stop sign, Lopez said, though the circumstances behind why a motorist zips past a yield sign likely differs from reasons why stop signs are ignored.
"Yield signs are set up for people to slow down ... but since it's not a stop sign, and maybe people don't take it" seriously, Lopez said. "Sometimes they slow down and they just don't stop when they see oncoming traffic."
The way ADOT has set up its yield signs on the frontage roads - first, with yellow signs, then the standard red-and-white inverted triangles closer to the merge area - makes it almost impossible for motorists not to see them, Ritter said.
"You cannot miss these signs," Ritter said. "They're very evident, very visible."
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