MOVING DESERT ROADBLOCKS DESIGN PUTS TRUCK REARS IN BAD SPOT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

MOJAVE - Caltrans is looking for a fix to the new interchange of Highways 14 and 58, saying a median is not long enough to provide refuge for big trucks trying to get across Highway 14.

While work is wrapping up on the new $76.3 million Highway 58 bypass that the interchange serves, the Department of Transportation is trying to address concerns raised by Mojave residents and Kern County lawmakers over the interchange's design.

``The median on Route 14 is not wide enough to provide refuge for a truck trying to cross this intersection,'' Mike Leonardo, director of Caltrans District 6, wrote in an Oct. 27 letter to state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield. ``This results in trucks blocking part of one of the lanes on Route 14.''

The problem occurs when tractor-trailers traveling on Highway 58 get off on Highway 14 north of Mojave and try to make a left turn. They first must cross one set of lanes, then stop for the second set. For the longest rigs, however, the median isn't wide enough to keep the rear ends from partially blocking one lane when they stop.

As an interim measure, Caltrans has restriped the overcrossing to reduce two lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction, providing an extra 12 feet of space for trucks. The traffic at the interchange has also eased with the opening of all three interchanges of the new Highway 58 bypass, said Caltrans spokesman Jose Camarena.

There are three options considered as the strongest contenders for the ultimate interchange fix: restripe the interchange back to the way it was if the traffic count goes down enough to warrant it, install stop signs for the Highway 14 traffic or install traffic signals.

Traffic engineers are looking at traffic movement and a recommended option should be made shortly, Camarena said.

``It's the nature of the animal,'' Camarena said of the design. ``We can all have all our projects and expectations, but when the traffic gets flowing it takes on a life of its own.''

There was one noninjury crash at the interchange in October, but that was before all three interchanges of the new bypass had opened and traffic was heavier. Since all the interchanges have opened, there have been no incidents, said Lt. Dana Leach, commander of the Mojave station of the California Highway Patrol.

Caltrans built the Highway 58 bypass to relieve congestion through Mojave by diverting some of the 28,000 vehicles- including nearly 9,000 big rigs - that used to travel through the center of town daily.

Before the bypass opened, Highways 58 and 14 joined at the south end of Mojave and split off at the north end. With the bypass, Highway 58 traffic loops to the north and east of Mojave.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) A tractor-trailer, above, negotiates a tight turn at Highways 14 and 58 in Mojave. An SUV hits its brakes, left, as a turning tractor-trailer waits for traffic from the opposite direction to clear. Trucks blocking traffic with their rear ends is a problem.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News