EAGLE, Idaho — Despite a "no left turn" sign posted since October at State Street and Eagle Road in downtown Eagle, some drivers continue making the prohibited turn — partly because GPS systems are still providing incorrect directions.
Idaho News 6 tested GPS navigation on Friday afternoon and confirmed it still instructs drivers to turn left at the intersection, even though the turn has been illegal for months.
"Your GPS literally tells you to take a left here, and unfortunately, it's not aligned with that left turn," said Robert Schultz, an Eagle neighbor.
WATCH | To learn what changes are being made to the Eagle and State Street intersection—
"Maybe there's a bigger way to call it out that there's no left turn here. Maybe it's flashing, blinking, whatever they can do to make people aware of it," Schultz said.
The Ada County Highway District plans to address the visibility issue by installing an LED-lit "no left turn" sign similar to the one at State Street and 36th Street, but sized appropriately for Eagle's smaller intersection. The new sign will be slightly smaller and will display only a left arrow, not the U-turn arrow found on the State and 36 intersection's sign. ACHD will also replace the current green light ball with a green arrow to make turn options clearer for drivers.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | New 'no left turn' sign at Eagle intersection catches drivers off guard
The changes are part of a comprehensive downtown mobility project that took 15 years from initial concept to final construction, according to Josh Saak, ACHD traffic engineering supervisor.
"We had a number of years that related to working with the city of Eagle in addition to Eagle City staff and Eagle City council and trying to figure out sort of what the best option would be to sort of improve pedestrian safety, improve bicycle safety, along with still keeping vehicles moving through downtown Eagle."
The left turn restriction was implemented to improve intersection efficiency and safety.
"We removed the left turn to be able to allow greater efficiency at the intersection to give a little more green time, a little more time to other movements that are quite a bit heavier," Saak said.
"The advantage that we have now is that with disallowing that left turn, we've effectively taken away one more alternative for folks to kind of mitigate crashes," Saak said. "So the fact that you don't have that specific movement moving it to other locations improves safety at the center just by virtue of eliminating that one direct left turn."
Drivers who need to head in that direction can use the signal at 2nd Street, two blocks to the east, or loop behind businesses using what's called a quadrant intersection on Olde Park Place.
ACHD has already made some improvements to help drivers understand the new traffic pattern, including clarifying existing signage to make it more readable.
"People have long-standing traffic patterns that they have in their heads, and oftentimes it takes quite a bit of time for drivers to understand that there are other options available to them, but it does take some getting used to," Saak said. "Overall, it's been an improvement, and it's an adjustment."
"Maybe the city can work with whoever does the GPS coordinates and get that switched," Schultz said.
Despite the traffic changes and technology issues, Schultz, his wife Diane, and their dog Max continue to enjoy downtown Eagle.
"Love Eagle and love the changes that they've made down here," Schultz said.
ACHD says the LED sign should be installed within the next few weeks. The agency encourages neighbors with questions or concerns to visit ACHD Idaho's website or use their ACHD Connect system.
