Speed at issue in Mountain Ranch

Less than two weeks after the speed limit through Mountain Ranch was raised from 35 to 45 mph, a new traffic survey may put the brakes on what some residents say has become a “speedway.”

Last week, the Public Works Department performed a followup to the 2008 survey that originally set the higher limits, prompted by renewed protests by residents at last week’s Calaveras County Board of Supervisor’s meeting.
 

 “You’re looking for a tragedy in Mountain Ranch,” town resident Paulie Sender told supervisors.

Officials are mum on the specifics, as the new survey is still just a sheet of paper marked with pencil jottings, but change is in the air.

“The trend of the data that we have looks as though we will be revisiting the posted speed limit,” said Jonathan Mitchell, senior engineer with Public Works.

Whatever the outcome, the 55 mph speed limit on much of the rest of Mountain Ranch Road’s narrow and windy 11-mile length will remain an issue.

Residents’ opposition to the speed limit and a planned turnout lane — which they say will effectively become a passing lane — dates to January 2007, said Cynthia Sanchez, a spokeswoman for a group of 40 residents who she says have “religiously” attended meetings on the topic.

The debate increased after a March 1 accident took the lives of four young people, including three siblings.

"How many more accidents and fatalities is it going to take for the county to wake up and do something?” Cynthia Sanchez asked at an August Supervisor’s meeting.

Speed limits, both in the community and outside, are largely the product of state law.

For a limit to be enforceable, it must be set at the 85th percentile speed — in other words, the speed higher than 85 percent of drivers travel, according to the Public Works Department and CHP.

While there have been no additional traffic surveys on the rest of the road, there are three safety improvement projects totaling $2 million in the works, all funded by competitive grants based on the safety of the road, said Mitchell.

Improvements include rumble strips, wider shoulders, some solar-powered curve warning signs and the realignment of the intersection of Mountain Ranch, Rail Road Flat and Sheep Ranch roads, he said.

They also include the much contested east- and west-bound turnouts, which Mitchell said both improve safety and make it easier for law enforcement to turn around on the narrow stretch.

But nearly 400 residents signed a petition against the turnouts, which they believe will promote excessive speed in an area with a number of driveways and a school bus stop.

“It’s not going to improve the safety of this road,” said Sanchez, who supports most of the other improvements.

The department has applied for an additional $1.5 million in grants to add guard rails, improve road shoulders and smooth the roadway edge, Mitchell said.    

Mountain Ranch Road’s accident rate since 1998 is comparable to highways 4 and 49, according to CHP data.

Since that time, Mountain Ranch Road has seen 16 fatal collisions and 403 total accidents, compared with 13 fatal collisions and 598 accidents on the stretch of Highway 4 from Angels Camp to the Alpine County line.

In the same period, there were 12 fatal collisions and 728 total accidents on the section running from the Amador County line to 4th Crossing Road, and 10 fatal collisions and 361 total accidents on the section from 4th Crossing Road to the Tuolumne County line.

“Mountain Ranch Road is far from a deadly roadway,” said CHP Officer Jaime Castillo in San Andreas. “We have thousands of people who travel these roadways every day and don’t die.”

Some have suggested posting lower than enforceable limits on the road, but Mitchell said that could expose the county to liability.

Sender, whose family owns Sender’s Market in Mountain Ranch, has a different idea: remove the signs.

“I believe we were safer with no speed limits posted on our road,” she told the council.