Dear Editor, I
’m a fairly new resident of Morgan Hill, having moved down to
the South Bay only a year and a half ago. Maybe I’m still getting
used to the Morgan Hill lifestyle, but where I’m from, when a road
improvement project is completed, the road is better.
Dear Editor,
I’m a fairly new resident of Morgan Hill, having moved down to the South Bay only a year and a half ago. Maybe I’m still getting used to the Morgan Hill lifestyle, but where I’m from, when a road improvement project is completed, the road is better.
I’m specifically referring to the resurfacing work on East Dunne. Dunne was getting a little rough in spots, mostly from tire wear causing some rutting. A road repair crew has come through with an asphalt remover, and routed out the ruts and filled them in – very poorly. I understand asphalt can be a tricky medium to work in, so sometimes several layers are needed to smooth things out.
So at first I was relieved when the new blacktop went down in front of Nordstrom Elementary School, except that it did little to smooth the bumps left by the repairs. I was hoping this was the first layer of more, but I’ve now also noted they’ve marked the road for painting.
Generally, you don’t lay new asphalt over new paint, so I’m lead to believe this is our new permanent road surface. If so, I’d really like my ruts back. The road surface is terrible. It’s more rough and uneven than the road was prior to the work being done.
I don’t know who’s doing the work – whether it’s our local Morgan Hill Transportation crew, or a contractor. If it’s our local boys, then please get them back out there, because we know they can do a better job. If it’s a contractor, we need to get our money back – they’ve done a rotten job.
One other thing I’ve noticed is that the painters have changed the traffic pattern for the westbound lanes for Dunne at Condit. Originally, the far-right lane was both a right-turn lane as well as a go-straight lane which would line you up for the freeway on-ramp.
Now the new way the road is marked for paint, the right lane will be a right-turn-only lane – requiring people to stay in the second lane to the right to go straight through the intersection, and then attempt to merge with people coming right onto Dunne from southbound Condit.
The change itself is bound to cause many people to violate the new markings strictly out of habit. Once they start obeying the markings and try to merge while crossing the Condit intersection, we’re going to have lots of close calls and possibly even a few accidents from people failing to yield when turning right onto westbound Dunne from southbound Condit.
It’s difficult enough as it is with the right lane being a go-straight avoiding accidents from people failing to yield from Condit. The new markings will make things much worse.
Is it too late? Can Dunne be saved?
Dave Killion, Morgan Hill
