Highway 20

Welcome to Albany: Sign’s getting replaced

Written July 2nd, 2019 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 9 responses.

Chances are drivers heading for the Ellsworth Street bridge on Highway 20 don’t need a sign to tell them they are entering Albany. But whether they do or don’t, the sign welcoming them to town is gone.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany welcome signs, Highway 20, wayfinding signs

A traffic change: Dotted line turns solid

Written December 13th, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 19 responses.

ODOT has followed through on changing an important lane marking on Ellsworth Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues. Now let’s see if Albany drivers get the hint.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany downtown, Albany traffic, Ellsworth Street, Highway 20, highway lane markings, ODOT, Oregon highways, solid white line, traffic control change

Take the lane, those symbols say

Written September 24th, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 11 responses.

“They must be kidding” was my thought when I first laid eyes on this new symbol in the middle of the right-hand travel lane of Albany’s Ellsworth Street downtown. But they’re not. Kidding, that is.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: bike sharrows, Ellsworth and Lyon, Highway 20, ODOT

Fresh crosswalk lines, but why now?

Written August 8th, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 9 responses.

A reader, Larry Falk, was wondering last week why ODOT was painting crosswalks on Lyon and Ellsworth even though both legs of the downtown Albany couplet of Highway 20 will be repaved next month. Evidently it was a mistake.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: downtown couplet, downtown crosswalks, Highway 20, ODOT

Traffic tie-ups end (we hope)

Written October 25th, 2017 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 2 responses.

Lane closures that caused unusual traffic slowdowns on Albany’s downtown Highway 20 couplet Wednesday should be a thing of the past, for this year anyway.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Highway 20, streetscape, traffic delays

Trouble spot on 20 waits for a fix

Written August 22nd, 2017 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 5 responses.

This is where Independence Highway runs into U.S. 20, the Albany Corvallis Highway. It’s a tricky place for making left turns on to 20, toward Albany, as one of these trucks is waiting to do.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: HB2017, Highway 20, Independence Highway, ODOT, Savannah Crawford

More bulbouts, and a question

Written May 29th, 2017 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 8 responses.

The official name, I think, is sidewalk extensions. But you can also call them bulbouts. They’ve been a favorite of street planners for years, and Albany is getting a bunch more as part of the CARA streetscape project that’s going to start in June.

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: Bulbouts, CARA streetscape, Ellsworth Street, Highway 20, ODOT, sidewalk extensions

Tricky signal tests patience on Pacific

Written March 24th, 2017 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 4 responses.

What’s the deal with the Hill Street traffic signal on Pacific Boulevard? Sometimes this signal on one of Albany’s busiest streets seems to delight in teasing drivers by giving them a green light for only a few seconds at a time. And when traffic is heavy, it may take three or more phases to get through.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Highway 20, Hill Street signal, ODOT, Pacific Boulevad signal

Hwy. 20: One danger still ignored

Written November 5th, 2016 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 10 responses.

ODOT has announced more than $8 million in projects to improve safety on the Albany-Corvallis Highway, mostly on the Corvallis end. But the hazards at the junction of Highway 20 with Independence Highway remain unaddressed and unresolved.

Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Albany-Corvallis Highway, Highway 20, Independence Road, ODOT, safety projects

Hwy. 20: Your chance to speak up

Written February 25th, 2016 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 3 responses.

Roughly 10,000 drivers a day drive Highway 20 between Albany and Corvallis and back again, and most of them could recite all its hazards. But the state is sponsoring a safety study anyway. The question is whether anything will be done when this study is complete.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: DKS Associates, Highway 20, ODOT safety study