At first glance, ODOT's proposal for handling traffic challenges at Highway 34 and Seven Mile Lane looked strange. But it would probably work.

The intersection is hard to cross without taking a risk. On Highway 34, traffic moves at great speed and, during part of the day, drivers on Seven Mile take quite a chance getting across the highway or turning left on it.

Linn County has pushed for traffic signals to be installed. ODOT does not like the idea because lights on major highways sometimes cause as many problems as they solve, and anyway, the purpose of the Lebanon-Corvallis Highway is to move traffic, not slow it down.

ODOT's solution is to prevent crossing the highway and to bar left turns completely, on the highway as well as on the county road.

Instead, drivers would turn right onto 34, go a short distance in the wrong direction, then duck into a left-turn refuge and make what amounts to a U-turn. The key is that drivers would have to watch out for Highway 34 traffic in only one direction at a time.

The solution is more involved but based on the same principle as the one ODOT built in the 1990s at Highway 34 and Oakville Road. And there, it has worked out well. (hh)