Every time I come to the corner of Alta Vista and Chestnut avenues, I'm scared. I think it is the most dangerous corner I've encountered in Monrovia and I hope city officials will give it a serious look.
The problem, it seems to me, is that it LOOKS like the north-south traffic on Alta Vista would be stopping at the corner. It seems to be one of those sleepy intersections where there would be four stop signs, but there aren't!
The north-south traffic just goes barreling through.
It is understandable that when a low-traffic street comes up against a high-traffic street that the low-traffic street will have a stop sign and the high-traffic street will not, but Alta Vista is not a high-traffic street.
Just to the west there is a four-way stop sign at Mayflower Avenue and Chestnut and just to the east there is a four-way stop at Magnolia Avenue and Chestnut, and both Mayflower and Magnolia are much higher-traffic streets than Alta Vista, yet the higher-traffic streets have four-way stops and the low-traffic Alta Vista does not.
Clearly this is not just my imagination. You can tell because the city has put up a yellow sign saying that "Cross Traffic Does Not Stop" and the only reason for putting up a sign like that is because it looks as if cross traffic SHOULD stop.
So why doesn't it?
Even when you notice the yellow sign and know cross-traffic won't stop, it is scary to cross Alta Vista. For example, with a vehicle parked on the east side of Alta Vista it is almost impossible to see if a fast car is bearing down on you. Look at the series of pictures I have here, in which I pull further and further into the street and still have a hard time seeing if anything is coming down Alta Vista. Then imagine a car coming down Alta Vista at 35 miles an hour. Would you feel safe?
Here's a Google map of the corner:
http://goo.gl/Tvq3W
As I said, I hope city officials will take a look at this and consider changing this corner to a four-way stop.
- Brad Haugaard
