Water district seeks new routes to Avenue 3-1/2E widening

A planned alternative route for trucks intended to expedite traffic and also avoid bottlenecks in front of the Marine Air Corps Station Yuma may have hit a speed bump. But a redesign may mitigate congestion better than originally designed.

A previously approved project aimed to extend 24th Street east from Avenue 3E and tie into the Avenue 3-1/2E alignment, along with widening Avenue 3-1/2E to 56th Street and then having the roadway veer west to connect with Avenue 3E is now regarded as adversely impacting the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District.

The intention of that new roadway was to provide an alternative route for traffic destined for agriculture coolers near Avenue 3-1/2E south of 32nd Street as well as diverting traffic from the eastern gates of MCAS. A study had shown that a widened Avenue 3-1/2E between 24th Street and 56th Street would better accommodate the agriculture and cooler/packing facility traffic.

At the Yuma City Council work session roundtable Tuesday, Mark Watson, city of Yuma administrator, moved to adopt several motions to amend the Major Roadways Plan of 2005 to avoid impacting the irrigation district.

During the planning process, two diverging routes of Avenue 3-1/2E were proposed south of 40th Street known as Option A and Option B. The latter was intended to run parallel to B Canal and then link up with Avenue 3E where it crossed 48th Street. Option A proposed to extend Avenue 3-1/2E another mile south before returning to the Avenue 3E alignment. After a previous council meeting Watson said, the administrative staff gravitated toward Option A.

"The idea was we need to know the design to secure the right-of-way," Watson said.

Yet where Option A crossed the canal there would problems with the irrigation district's infrastructure, Watson explained. Therefore he recommended the city council pass a motion consent agenda at their regular meeting on Wednesday.

Watson said, if the motion passes it will provide the administrative staff direction of how to amend the Major Roadways Plan of 2005.

He went on, it will confer that Option A will extend and end at 48th Street and eliminate the preliminary design south of there. It will also continue the design of Avenue 3-1/2E alignment north of 40th Street. And it will design an Avenue 3-1/2E roadway to include an alignment to the west side of the Avenue B Canal at approximately 44th Street to reduce interference with the Irrigation District's facilities.

"If it (3-1/2E) went straight there, the district would have required a full overpass and that's pretty costly so we avoided it by routing it around the district's infrastructure on the west side," Watson said. "We envision traffic comes up from south county on 3E, crosses over at 3-1/2E alignment north of 40th Street," Watson said. "If we stop at 48th Street, we have a plan in which to build upon."

Watson added that he had spoken this week to the MCAS Command and that they were comfortable with the direction in which the city was going. Sgt. Robert Smith, MCAS spokesman, noted it was not an MCAS issue at this time and they declined to offer further comment on it.

"What we're doing is a concept design," Watson said. "People developing in the area (between 48th Street and the canal) will know what the roadway will look like and plan accordingly."

The proposal is by no means settled and will continue to reviewed by the council, said Dave Nash, city of Yuma spokesman.

"We're looking for a solution that is desirable to all parties," he said.

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William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumansun.com or 539-6858.