Driving You Crazy: What can be done to stop the illegal and dangerous left turns near Havana and Arapahoe?

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Kerry from Englewood writes, “What's driving you crazy? On both sides of the Arapahoe Rd and Havana intersection there are several places where you aren’t supposed to turn left. There are even concrete barriers to prevent these left turns. I constantly see people violating these no left turns and have seen several near miss accidents and one person during rush hour going the wrong way on Havana for about 100 feet to get around a tanker truck so they could get to Arapahoe Rd. What can they do to stop these dangerous left turns?”

There are several ways to discourage and prevent drivers from making any poor driving behavior including those illegal lefts. The most obvious way is to eliminate access but the city could add roadway barriers and police could increase enforcement.

When I went out there to take a look for myself, it didn’t take long for me to see some illegal lefts. Most of the ones I saw happened on the north side of E. Arapahoe Road coming out of the Toyota dealership. I saw a fair number from the two spots south of Arapahoe, including one driver who initially turned right but then almost immediately made a U-turn right in front of the no U-turn sign.

I talked to both the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and to the Centennial Public Works Department about solutions to this problem. Traffic engineers with the City of Centennial told me they initially instituted these prohibited left turns along S. Havana Street for several reasons. The main reason is the proximity to busy Arapahoe Road. Both private right-in, right-out driveways are only 180 feet and 270 feet respectively from the intersection. They were constructed over 25 years ago which was prior to the incorporation of Centennial as a city.

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The private driveway north of Arapahoe into the dealership is only 265 feet from the intersection. Traffic engineers told me allowing full movement accesses from these short distances presents significant safety and crash concerns.

The city told me all three driveways are currently equipped with raised channelizing islands and supplemental signage. This is the way they will stay for the foreseeable future. I asked the city if they would look at adding stanchions or some other kind of barriers to further discourage or prevent these illegal left turns. I was told that the city is not planning that type of work at this time and that such projects would involve a substantial amount of design and construction along with associated costs and public impact.

The city suggests accessing the businesses to the south of Arapahoe from the full movement access points on Briarwood/Costilla, slightly further to the south. The dealership to the north of Arapahoe can be accessed from a right-in right-out to the east on Arapahoe and from a full movement access on Ironton Street connecting to Havana slightly further to the north.

As far as getting people to stop making illegal lefts right now, the ACSO told me it's aware of the illegal left turns and deputies do look for the illegal turns when they have time to do enforcement. Of course, deputies will pull someone over if they happen to be in that area and happen to see a violation, but that’s why there is that old adage — there is never a cop around when you want one. The ASCO told me even though you might be seeing drivers making these illegal lefts, it's not aware of any crashes due to those illegal turns.

The city said drivers who choose to make unpermitted movements are responsible for those choices and associated violations and that enforcement is the appropriate means to address this deliberate behavior. By the way, if someone is pulled over for making an illegal left, the offense in Centennial is “Left Turn When Prohibited” and is a four-point ticket with a $125 fine.

Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.