Emotional Eubank meeting pits community against Transportation Cabinet officials

Jul. 17—Information versus emotion. That was the atmosphere during Thursday evening's town hall meeting between Kentucky Transportation Cabinet representatives and the residents of Eubank, with both groups wanting to see the safety of the U.S. 27-Ky. 70 intersection improved, but both approaching it from very different viewpoints.

KYTC is planning to install an RCUT, or a Restricted Crossing U-Turn, that would block the median of U.S. 27 and force drivers trying to get from one side of Ky. 70 to the other to navigate a right-hand turn onto U.S. 27, a 650-feet turning lane to approach a U-turn, then pull out onto the other side of U.S. 27 and drive another 650 feet to get to the other side of Ky. 70.

This method slows down people coming into the intersection from either East or West Ky. 70, but allows U.S. 27 traffic to continue through at the same speed as it always has.

Pulaski residents would like to see a much more straightforward change — a traffic light that would stop traffic on U.S. 27 to allow Ky. 70 traffic to come through unimpeded.

According to all of the studies, traffic surveys and data collected by KYTC, the RCUT is the safest way to reduce overall accidents and prevent major injury accidents.

But with the meeting held just eight days after yet another major accident that — as announced Friday — has claimed the life of a Somerset teen, most residents in attendance were not in the mood to hear what the figures and stats had to say.

Or, as demonstrated by one particular exchange, when KYTC District 8 Chief District Engineer James Jones tried to explain his office's position by saying, "We have to follow the data," a woman in the crowd shot back, "F**k data."

The town hall meeting was organized by local elected leaders in order to allow KYTC officials to present their side for why the RCUT is best, to allow those elected leaders to hear the opinions of the residents, and to allow residents to have their questions answered about the mechanics of the RCUT.

However, most of the residents who attended the meeting were more concerned with convincing KYTC officials to put in a traffic light instead. While KYTC officials were conducting a PowerPoint presentation, they were often interrupted by the crowd, many asking why they had bothered to attend the meeting since the state officials' minds were made up and their opinions didn't matter.

"You're not listening to us," was one of the refrains.

At one point, Jones responded, "What we heard is that you wanted a safer intersection, and this is the safest thing we know to do. It just is. I don't know what else to say."

Jones and KYTC Transportation Engineering Specialist Mike Vaughn presented dozens of slides worth of data on the viability of an RCUT and how, in their view, a traffic light would make the intersection more dangerous than it already is.

Drivers disobeying the signal — whether due to not expecting a signal in the middle of long stretches of clear roads along that part of U.S. 27, or due to intentionally disregarding the signal — was expected to cause up to 25% more crashes in the long run, according to KYTC studies.

In comparison, the RCUT is expected to have 35% to 60% fewer crashes. That means that an RCUT compared to a signal should be 45% to 80% safer.

Many members of the crowd argued, however, that a signal combined with reducing the speed limit in that area, rumble strips, and pre-light warnings saying "Be prepared to stop," would aid in getting traffic on U.S. 27 to slow down and follow the commands of the signal.

Furthermore, many argued that most drivers know how a traffic signal works, due to the large number of them in existence. Many drivers, especially older ones, are not familiar with RCUTs due to them being newer and used in fewer places.

As of today, there are 10 RCUTs around the state with several more being constructed, KYTC officials said.

One of the ways an RCUT reduces accidents is to take away the amount of information a driver needs to focus on to cut across U.S. 27 from the side, KYTC officials said.

Drivers need only think about looking left and waiting for a clearing before turning right and moving into the U-turn lane, rather than having to look left, right and across to process traffic coming from three or more directions at once.

KYTC officials said that rights-of-way and the way the RCUT is designed will allow large vehicles such as buses, tractor trailers and farm equipment, to turn back onto U.S. 27 safely.

But some, such as Eubank Mayor Eddie Hicks, disputed that pulling a bus out across two lanes of traffic — especially on foggy days — would be safer.

"I want whatever's safest for this community, but my concern is ... we've got a lot of school buses coming in and out of here every day, and I know what it's like to drive one," Hicks said. "On a rainy, foggy morning, all these windows fog up to where you can't see. You're going to have traffic coming south at a pretty good rate of speed, and if a bunch of school buses have to go crossways to the intersection to make a U-turn, then what's going to happen if a car or truck comes up and hits it broadside?"

And that comes back to one of the crowd's biggest concerns — reducing the speed of traffic on U.S. 27.

Many of the family and friends of those who have been injured or killed in wrecks at that intersection pointed to the speed of vehicles on U.S. 27 as the culprit for their accidents.

The most recent accident was that of Ethan Carter and Carlee Whitis, two 19-year-olds who were severely injured on July 7. Carter, who was driving his vehicle, was traveling west on Ky. 70 and was struck as he was attempting to cross U.S. 27. Whitis was a passenger in his car.

Whitis's passing was announced on social media Friday, several hours after the meeting.

Frankia Colyer, who is a second cousin to Whitis, spoke at the meeting, saying she had a message from her uncle.

"I promised my uncle that I would come and say that they believe that Carlee would not be in the hospital fighting for her life if there was a stop light. My uncle got on his knees and begged for a miracle for Carlee because that's his grandchild."

Colyer went on to say that as a science teacher, she was considered the "numbers person" of the family.

"Great presentation," she told KYTC officials, "but where's the common sense. You have all these people who live this daily. ... I tried to believe that this [RCUT] would work. I don't see it. I'm sorry."

Eubank councilor Kenny Upchurch also read out a statement from the family of Carter, saying, "Ethan has been slowly improving and was recently taken out of ICU and given a private room. ... I would like to thank everyone for showing up here tonight and trying to fix this dangerous intersection. I do not want anyone to ever have to go through what Carlee's and Ethan's families are going through. ... I feel that the 55 mph speed limit plays the biggest factor in this accident that occurred at the intersection on July 7. I truly feel that the simple common sense solution would be to have a reduced speed limit, possibly have it reduced from 55 to 45, and to 35 during school hours. ... Put in traffic lights at the intersection, put in rumble strips. This could slow down traffic and get drivers' attention."

Eubank's Fire Chief Norman Rutheford also pointed out that the RCUT would add time to emergency services trying to get water tankers or medical personnel from one side of Ky. 70 to the other.

"When I have to shuttle water, you've put a lot of unnecessary running around to make it, pulling out and come back. ... You're risking someone's life. Are you taking this into consideration?"

Vaughn confirmed that engineers had taken emergency services into consideration, and he estimated that it would add 35 to 45 second to an ambulance or fire truck's route.

"Everything in life is a tradeoff, right? That is a tradeoff, that there could be a slightly longer travel time in emergency situations. ... but we're also trying to save lives at the actual intersection," Vaughn said.

The cost of putting in the RCUT is around $700,000 to $1 million, whereas it would cost the state $100,000 to $250,000 to put in a traffic light. That shows that the state is not concerned about how much it costs to make the intersection safer, officials said.

An RCUT would reduce the number of right-angle accidents (T-bone collisions), officials said, and reduce the number of "collision points" at that intersection to remove the majority of those right-angle points.

They also presented statistics that showed a proven reduction in accidents at RCUTs that area already in use, including one in Logan County which logged a 45% reduction in total crashes and a 100% reduction of injury crashes.

The one installed in Laurel County, the closest one to this area, shows a 38% reduction in total crashes and a 43% reduction in injury accidents, while the one in Knox County shows a 68% reduction in total crashes and an 80% reduction in injury crashes.

Pulaski County Judge-Executive Steve Kelley, who attended the meeting, issued a statement Friday saying, "I have been asking for help there since I've been in office. It has always been a very dangerous intersection. Finally a few years ago, the state tried to make lane changes to make it safer. That didn't work well. So hopefully the RCUT solution will make a big difference. The engineering studies show that the RCUT will be safer than a traffic signal. I just hope we can put an end to unfortunate deaths there, and see a drastic reduction in accidents."

Construction on the RCUT is scheduled to begin on August 1, and is expected to be completed by October 31. That announcement didn't sit well with members of the crowd, who once again argued that they were wasting their time by attending the meeting if the state had already made up its mind.

That's where state elected leaders like Senator Rick Girdler and Representative David Meade stepped in, saying that they were listening to the community's concerns.

"We wanted to hear what you have to say," Girdler told the crowd. "What we may be able to do is come back and talk a little bit. I don't know what we can and can't do."

"Your voice can always be heard," Meade said.

Whether they or other state leaders can convince KYTC to rethink their decision to build the RCUT is yet to be determined.