Two safety improvements have been announced for Route 3 in Monroe County north of Waterloo. 

One will be completed in the coming months. The other will take a few years.

The City of Columbia reported Monday the Illinois Department of Transportation will be making changes to the intersection of Route 3 and North Main Street/Sand Bank Road.

The city said IDOT will re-align turn lanes approaching the intersection in addition to making adjustments to traffic signal patterns used at the turn lanes from Route 3 to North Main Street and Sand Bank Road.   

The changes were prompted after recent conversations with Columbia Mayor Bob Hill, Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon and other city officials regarding safety at that intersection.

Donjon told the Republic-Times that IDOT will move the turn lanes on the north and south lanes of Route 3 to the left, which will produce a better line of sight for motorists.

He estimated 90 percent of the crashes at that intersection occur while a motorist is turning left from Route 3 onto either North Main Street or Sand Bank Road.

“Moving the lanes over even a few feet, it will not be such a blind left turn,” Donjon said, adding IDOT has already begun work  to move the left turn lanes in conjunction with its current resurfacing project.

Donjon also said IDOT plans to install flashing yellow turn traffic signals at the intersection, although he was not sure if it would be in service by the time the left turn lanes are reconfigured.

Donjon noted that in his experience and based on crash reports, a large majority of motorists involved in accidents at the intersection remember turning left during a green light, but most “don’t remember” if a green arrow was also displayed.

He added busy urban intersections just across the river in Missouri utilize     the flashing yellow “yield” arrows for left turns. 

“It seems to help people,” Donjon said.

There have been numerous vehicle crashes at the intersection in recent years, including a fatal crash in July 2019.

Donjon said Columbia emergency personnel responded to 18 crashes at or near the intersection in 2022 – including three incidents in a four-day span in late December.

There was a similar string of multi-vehicle crashes at the same intersection in December 2021 – three crashes in five days.

Donjon pointed out many of the crashes there involve side impact to vehicles, which tend to be the most dangerous.

With the number and frequency of crashes also increasing at the intersection of Route 3 and South Main Street/Gall Road and other spots on Admiral Parkway, Donjon said he would like to implement similar traffic signal updates along the highway.

“We’re going to start with North Main (Street) and see how it goes,” Donjon said, adding he was “hoping to continue improvements south along the (Route 3) corridor.” 

Another problematic intersection further south of Columbia city limits along Route 3 which will be addressed by IDOT is at Hanover Road, Monroe County Engineer Aaron Metzger announced Monday.

Metzger discussed the upcoming IDOT project during a meeting of the  Monroe County Board.

In a letter dated March 14, IDOT informed the county the intersection had been approved for inclusion in the department’s Highway Safety Improvement Program.

The letter did not specify what the future changes entail, only that IDOT had “recently initiated preliminary engineering and environmental studies for improvements to the intersections.”

Metzger had applied for grant funding in December 2021 for development of either “J-turn” or restricted crossing U-turns at the Route 3 intersection with Hanover and Coxeyville roads.

Metzger confirmed he expects the project to be one which will restrict left-hand turns from Route 3 at the intersection, but added the nature of the improvements will be based on IDOT’s findings.

He estimated the project would not begin for at least two years.

The IDOT letter states the project will be completed in three stages: engineering, contracting and construction. 

The letter says the first two phases “generally take a minimum of 12-18 months to complete.”

Commissioner Vicki Koerber asked if IDOT would take into consideration traffic increases due to development just west of Route 3 near Hanover Industrial Drive – specifically the planned Stumpy’s Spirits & Distillery expansion. 

Metzger explained IDOT’s purview only involves Route 3.

One aspect IDOT may consider is lengthening the southbound right turn lane from Route 3 onto Hanover Road.

Metzger noted IDOT has previously denied requests to lengthen the lane, although he added traffic studies estimate daily traffic onto Hanover Road from Route 3 has increased from 800 to 3,000 estimated vehicles per day since the right turn lane was constructed a few years  ago.

The IDOT letter also asked county officials to submit any design requests to “accommodate bicyclists or pedestrians within the improvement area.”

Metzger said he did not think it would be needed since there are no sidewalks or bike trails on either side of the highway.