TRAFFIC COMMISSION MINUTES

Transcription

1 TRAFFIC COMMISSION MINUTES Mike Graft was not in attendance so he had Virgil proceeding over the June meeting: Virgil called the meeting of the Marion Traffic Commission ~ 2:09 Tuesday June 19, 2018 in the City Council Chambers, Marion Municipal Bldg. Note: Virgil had/is having some problems with the procedures of running the meeting. Roll Call: Present: Tony Fox Lt. David Gilbert Tom Hunt Sam Ramsey Virgil Hartley Rhonda Pierson Fire Department Representative Police Department Representative Legal Department Representative City Plan Director Secretary/non-voting member Traffic Dept. Rep. /non-voting mem. Absent: Don Batchelor Mike Graft City Council Representative Chairman of Commission Virgil then asks the Commission if they had a chance to read last month s minutes and if so he asks for a motion to approve May s T.C. minutes. Sam motions, Tony seconded the minutes were approved. There wasn t any old business so the Commission went on to the new business at hand: Item a: 2-Way Stop request at N. Race & W. 1 st St. s- Ms. Martinez failed to show: Virgil addresses the Commission that the black & white photo was the

2 Intersection. 1 st Street is one-way west and the one block of N. Race between W. Nelson & W. 1st is two way and that it already has a southbound stop sign (south of that intersection Race St. is one way south). Virgil was informed that the reason for the request was for speeding. There isn t any sight distance problem and it is posted at 25 MPH just off Nebraska St. this was confirmed by Rhonda as well as Tony. Rhonda confirms that there is a stop at Race & Nelson- one block away. Sam comments that it (S. Race St.) is a bit narrow and as also commented by Mike in a memo he did before he left that it could be a bit hazardous in the winter having to stop then proceed up the hill. There were several in agreement. Lt. Gilbert comments that he was out there investigating this, he didn t see any speeding though he adds that when drivers see a marked police car it affects the driver s reactions. He also states for the record that he isn t saying that there isn t some speeding (that happens all over Marion), but then again didn t see any of that activity the day he was out there. Rhonda adds that there are 8 warrants for a stop and she didn t think any would be met. And again Lt. Gilbert didn t see anything that would warrant an additional stop sign. Virgil asks if there was any further comments or discussion on this subject, he continues with the comments Mike had written and that Mike would agree that he didn t see a need in making this a 2-Way stop at this location. Virgil then asks for a motion to install a stop at Race and 1 st - Lt. Gilbert made a motion not to make Race & 1 st a 2-Way Stop, it was seconded by Tony and Sam at the same time (see the note above). Item b: 4-Way Stop request at N. Ohio & E. Sherman St. s- Speaking Mr. Josh Hyde (resident) 556 E. Sherman St. - Josh mentions that he has lived at this area since 81 and that he would like to see a 4-way rather than the existing 2-Way stop intersection, he agrees that stop signs probably shouldn t be used to control speeding, but in this case he sees this as an exception. He tells the Commission that drivers in his opinion are driving way too fast for this section of Sherman. It is between two busy streets- Pennsylvania & Branson and that there are small children in the neighborhood, even he doesn t let his children play in the front yard. He explains that from Branson to Pennsylvania (two fast streets) it s hard to slow down on Sherman St (note: There is a 4-Way at Meridian & Sherman). and he notes how wide Sherman is and as he states wide and long and that it s easy to speed on it. He then admits that he too is guilty of driving a bit over the speed limit on occasions. He says that this is between two busy streets: He also brought

3 a signed petition from the surrounding neighbors (15 in total) in favor of a 4-Way. There are 4 dots on the petition as these are the residents that live on the 4 corners of the intersection. Josh adds that he has videos and tells the Commission that they were welcome to view or not. He said he heard us talk about the 8 warrants needed to be satisfied for the installation of a stop sign he asked what they were. He wasn t are of these so he didn t have time to research them. Rhonda & Virgil gave a couple of examples. Again Virgil brings up the point of using Stop signs as speed control is not what they were intended for again Josh said didn t know about the requirements for the installation of stop signs or he would have done more/better research. He also comments that he only knew about coming to the meeting last week. Rhonda adds that the only problem she sees is when she was traveling eastbound on Sherman there is a slight sight issue. She continues that the day she was out there to check the area out there were 3 little boys on bicycles they didn t stop at the intersection and if it wasn t for her driving slow she could have possibly hit one. She also comments that parents need to teach their children about basic traffic laws i.e.: stopping at a stop street. Josh comments that everyone rolls through that stop, Rhonda counters that even if this was a 4-Way stop people don t always obey them that they ll just roll on through or speed from one stop to the other, and she adds that people are going to speed no matter what. Now Josh says he s a bit bias as again he lets the Commission know that he has two children and doesn t let them play in the front yard because the fear of drivers speeding. He continues that people are driving faster and faster and that there are more distractions nowadays. He further comments that it is wider then Grant, Marshall and Swayzee. He talks about trailer & truck traffic (on Sherman), but can t say how much. Also he comments about how wide or narrow some of the other streets are. And that he hasn t seen an accident there so far, Rhonda tells him that that is one of the warrants and Josh tells her that that was fortunate there hasn t been any accidents. NOTE: For the record an accident was reported at that intersection the very next day (Wednesday 6/20/18), but according to the Officer Crash Report it was not due to speeding- a driver pulled out in front of an oncoming car being distracted driving.

4 Josh continues that most people in the neighborhood knows that intersection and what it is again he states that Sherman connects two busy streets; Branson and Pennsylvania Streets. Again he mentions that he has videos of people speeding if the Commission would like to see them. Virgil asks him about how many people speed through the intersection? Josh answers about 1 out 3 he thought that was a fair number. He says he put up a sign that reads Drive like your kids live here he believes it s working (in slowing people down). He thinks a stop sign would better help with his problem. Virgil (telling Josh that he is playing the Devil s Advocate) then asks Josh why stop traffic if you don t have to? and continues with a Radar Speed study- where 85 percentile of the drivers feel safe at that speed (Ex.: If the 85 percentile speed was 38 mph then the speed limit would be 40 mph or if the speed was 34 mph then the speed limit would be 35 mph). Virgil asks Josh that he did say there hasn t been any accidents that he knew of and that he is a bit surprised at that. He assures the Commission that he is fine that there hasn t been any accidents as he didn t want to wish anyone any bad luck. Virgil comments that he thought that speed limit was 35 (he was later told that in a residential area it is 25 marked or not), Josh thought that was outrageous. Rhonda says that she would like to see a 25 MPH speed limit sign(s) erected than stop signs- she again explains that stop signs aren t meant to be used for speed control. Josh again comments that he does 25 and that 35 was too fast (he further comments that he now drives 20), Virgil explains that if 85% of the drivers travel at that speed because they feel safe going at that speed. Rhonda again states that if a street is not posted than it will be a 25 MPH street. Josh comments that he didn t know that, neither did Virgil, Rhonda says that since it isn t posted that maybe a couple of 25 MPH signs should be erected first instead of posting Stop signs to see if this doesn t help. Again she says that in her opinion that would be a good first attempt as Stop signs are not a speed control device. The discussion goes on about the stop streets around the affected intersection. Josh admits that he doesn t want to see a 4-Way stop, but if there was another helpful alternative he would be glad to entertain that. He further adds that he doesn t know if he wants people stopped in front of his house, but in light of the speeding he doesn t know any other alternative. Like he stated he isn t sure about adding a 4-Way Stop, but he wants drivers to slow down. He adds that it s easy to speed on Sherman because of how wide it is, he says that turning done his request is fine, but something needs to be done to curb

5 the speeding and that was his main concern. He says to the Commission that he really appreciates them for having him here and hearing him out on this issue and the fact that he has a voice with the City. Now speaking is Lt. Gilbert on this issue, he adds that Speed Limit signs don t help any more than Stop signs to limit a speeding problem, but the S.L. signs are more cost efficient and you don t want to put stop signs on every block. Josh asks if they make a sign that reads SLOW and he wasn t trying to be funny, he just asks. The answer was no and he goes on to say how wide that intersection is, that you could play tennis there. Virgil adds that with the photos there isn t a sight distance problem. He again addresses the Commission to thank them for letting him speak on this issue and if the stop request is not approved at least do something to address the speeding issue. Virgil thanks him for coming and addressing this issue. He then turns to the Commission members to get comments concerning this. He asks what their thought are for installing speed Limit signs or for making this intersection a 4-Way. The comments among the members is leaning towards first trying the Speed Limit signs, so Virgil asks for a motion to install 25 MPH signs along Sherman St. (to see if that helps). Josh asks if we could revisit this issue and it was affirmed that the City would keep tabs on this area. He assures Josh this is s first step remedy and that again the City will keep an eye on this. Virgil again asks for a motion to install 25 MPH signs along Sherman St. Lt. Gilbert makes the motion, Tony seconds, all were in favor there were no opposed, and motion passes. Item c: Kem Rd. /St. Paul Parking Lane- speaking is Phillip Morton of RMA & Assoc. s: Mr. Morton passes out to the members drawings of the project. He addresses the Commission and starts to explain the project. He explains that with work being done on Kem Road, the School and RMA are working w/ Mike Graft on revising the parking layout in front of St. Paul school. The project consists of moving the existing lanes north to give room to install 45 degree parking on the south side of Kem road to replace the existing parallel. He adds that the handouts/drawings show revised lane marking to explain that this will also have a calming effect on traffic has the proposed 2-11 foot traffic lanes will slow vehicles down. He says that there is 16 existing parallel parking space and that going to angle parking it would add 16 more plus 2 handicap spaces. He then asks if there are any question and that if approved they would continue working with

6 Mike, the Contractor and the school on the added cost of this project to the existing Kem Road repaving, curb & storm project and restriping (the School will burden the cost of stripping the parking stalls). Lt. Gilbert asks that some years ago there was angle parking and why was it taken off, Mr. Morton couldn t answer that question, but believed Jason was working on this. He did know that at one point it was angle parking, but again didn t know why or when it was removed. Lt. Gilbert goes on that he thought from day one it always had been angle parking along that side. Phillip does explain that with the new lane markings it will be possible for the drivers using the angle parking to back out without going into the driving lane. Lt. Gilbert then asks about the existing entrances and if they would be affected as far as possible sight distance problems pulling out onto Kem Road during an event. Phillip said that RMA didn t believe it would be a problem do the width of the new driving lanes. Sam is now asking Phillip if there will be any new pavement markings on the southside of Kem Rd. to differentiate the parking lane from the driving lane. Phillip explains that was the reason for the lane shift and the reduced lane width at the drive at the Church and the drive east of the school. He further explains that drivers will be more in the left side of parking lanes and that new painted lines will show that (looking at the diagrams supplied by RMA). Rhonda is asking about installing an object marker at the exit of the Church entrance to indicate drivers to move over so they don t run into the parking lanes or will this be only pavement markings. Phillip answers that there will be a dashed pavement marking to guide drivers over. He did say the RMA could look into the snowplow safe object markers. Rhonda further states that people are probably used to the way things are and with the new changes anything would help them adapt to the new design/layout. Phillip does say that RMA did look into installing an object marker, but didn t want to block eastbound traffic for drivers pulling into the proposed parking lanes. He did say that if the City requires it then they would readdress this design. Lt. Gilbert (looking at the diagram) asks Phillip if there is an existing/will be stop sign at the gym entrance, Phillip did not know either way. He goes on to answer Lt. Gilbert who is questioning the safety of pulling out of the gym s drive, that the main reason for this new parking layout is to increase parking for events also. Lt. Gilbert questions how a driver will pull out pass the end of the angle parked vehicle and ease out onto Kem Rd. Sam states no that there is basically a lane (parking stall) before you get to the driving lane in Kem

7 Rd. Sam continues that according to the diagram you should be able to pull within the parked cars rear and have a good view of oncoming cars. Tom agrees that there should be enough room before a driver gets into the driving lane to see cars coming from the west. Phillip continues that there is something like 15 feet before you get into the driving lane of Kem, but what Lt. Gilbert is concerned is that with a Stop sign drivers will be stopped at the sign- that would be will back from the E.O.P of Kem. Someone (I couldn t tell who- maybe it s Phillip)) says that a driver would stop and creep up until he could see oncoming traffic, but the driver would still probably not be in the driving lane with the dim. s shown in the proposed diagram. Again Lt. Gilbert states that he wonders why they changed it from the original angle to parallel parking. Virgil asks if it had to do with the length of the cars in the past- in reality cars have gotten much shorter/smaller then in the 50 s- 60 s. He comments that when he came to the City (1976) the school had angle parking and that maybe the rear of the cars were sticking out a bit. Lt. Gilbert gives an example of a parking area at the new IWU Football Stadium where there is a pull off for a bus parking, but people are using it as angle parking and the rear end of the vehicles are sticking out in the driving lane (of 45 th Street.). Someone mentions that when they were younger and went to school there (St. Paul?) cars were much longer then they are today, Virgil agreed. Tom agrees in that he thought that there was angle parking in front of St. Paul School for at least the first 50 years or so, Tony remembers as well (when there used to be angle parking). Phillip says that was the reason on shifting the centerline north a few feet (for 2:11 ft. lanes) as to accommodate the proposed angle parking. LT. Gilbert is discussing that the numbers/dimension don t really mean anything to him, but is asking to clarify the design will be adequate for this design. He adds that Kem can get pretty busy certain times of the day (Ref.: this is a School Zone). Sam says as a Planning Standard it seems that there is enough existing road width for this new design. He quotes that for two way traffic lanes are a minimum of 9 feet and 12 feet for truck traffic. And since there isn t (or shouldn t) be much truck traffic (except of course deliveries) the 11 feet lanes should be adequate. Rhonda says it should be 10 foot lanes in rural areas. Lt. Gilbert questions is a tractortrailer get down a 12 foot lane and Sam confirms that they should be able to. There seems to be questions on that figure, but since Kem is not a dedicated truck route the point seems moot. Virgil asks if Mike was aware of this design, Phillip

8 says that Mike was out there with Jason on a field inspection of the area and seemed to think Mike is aware of the new design. Virgil asks if there was any further questions or discussions- Rhonda voiced her concern at the West end (Church entrance) on where it narrows and the possible use of delineations/object markers for shifting traffic north to aid drivers backing out of the parking stalls. Philip adds that since this a freshly paved street with new pavement markings it should be clear to drivers. Tony comments the survivability of object markers due to snow removal and hopes that the pavement markings will do there job. Phillip asks the Commission if there any object markers that the City would like to see or use they can discuss this with RMA. Virgil mentions that they (RMA) are the engineers on this project and Phillip agrees that with the new pavement markings and possible object markers this new design should be adequate. He adds that Jason Miller was supposed to be here with him, but had a meeting out of town and couldn t attend this meeting. Virgil asks the Commission if they have heard enough and/or if there were any other further discussion or questions. No one answers, he then asks for a motion for an acceptations for this Project. Tony motions to approve that new angle parking in front of St. Paul school, Sam seconds. He then asks for a vote- all were in favor except Tom Hunt who abstains because he is a member of the Church. Virgil is a bit confused on if there is a quorum and it was decided that there was and the question of him being able to cast a vote, now this was also brought up by Tom and he comments that only an attorney would have thought this up. The answer was that this needs to be addressed at the next meeting, but he thought since Virgil was taking Mike Grafts place that he then has voting privileges. With that Virgil then adds a Yes vote making this vote unanimously (anyway) with no nay so the motion passes and has the approval of the Commission. Lt. Gilbert adds that there was a reason in the past on why the angle parking was changed. Virgil then asks for a motion to close the meeting, Phillip adds that they (RMA) will keep a tab on this with the City. Virgil then asks for a motion to close the meeting, Tony makes the motion, Sam seconds all were in favor there were no No votes motion passes meeting is closed (Thank God!).