WTF, Grand Junction: We Finally Got Our Rec Center and 3 Traffic Lights in Half a Mile

Let's start with the good news, because there is some.

Grand Junction is getting the Community Recreation Center it's wanted for approximately forever.

You know, that amazing building out at Matchett Park, with turf fields, the whole deal, opening late this year. Genuinely great.

Now the part where you say "wait, what?!"

Do the Math with Me

To get in and out of the new rec center "safely," the city dropped a shiny new traffic light on Patterson, officially "Matchett Parkway," lined up with 28½ Road.

Google Maps, Canva

Here's where it sits:

• A quarter-mile from the light at 28¼ Road
• A half-mile from the light at 29 Road

Which means we now have three traffic lights inside a half-mile stretch of Patterson.

On Patterson. The road that already handles roughly the entire west side of town and does not, shall we say, have capacity to spare at 5:15 on any day.

Three lights. Half a mile. On the busiest stretch of road we've got. WTF. And we don't mean Welcome to Fruita.

And It's Not Even the "Funny" Kind of Dangerous

Here's the thing that turns this from a grumble into an actual raised eyebrow: 29 Road & Patterson isn't just annoying. A recent study ranked it the 19th most dangerous intersection in the entire state of Colorado. The only Western Slope intersection to crack the top 50.

62 crashes and 50 injuries in four years. Mesa County's own numbers put it 8th for total crashes.

Just this year that corner has seen a pedestrian struck, a life-threatening DUI wreck, a car that ended up inside the Lucky Me, and a utility worker hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

I drive this road every day. Every. Day. I know Patterson can't take the change.

So the plan was: take that stretch, and add a light a half-mile away and another one a quarter-mile past that. Cool cool cool.

From Gladiator Arenas to Demolition Derby: Grand Junction’s Worst Intersections Ranked

Read More: From Gladiator Arenas to Demolition Derby: Grand Junction’s Worst Intersections Ranked

Look, We're Not Mad About the Rec Center

We want the rec center. Nobody's out here waving a "no fun allowed" sign.

But somewhere in the process of building a very nice thing, it feels like nobody drove Patterson at rush hour with a stopwatch first.

There's a whole Access Management Plan, a traffic study that says we also need a new right-turn lane, raised medians, the works and the lived result is going to be a lot of us catching all three reds in a row and slowly aging in our cars.

Rec Center Stop Light

They used to plan a road so you could, you know, actually get down it. Feels like a bygone art some days.

The Real Takeaway

Rib the light placement all you want, it earns it.

But 29 Road is no punchline. If your new route to shoot hoops runs through that intersection, treat every yellow like it's already red, clear the box before you turn left, and give the person next to you room to be human.

We finally got our rec center, Grand Junction. Let's all actually make it there in one piece.