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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 5, 2015 Minutes OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS COLUMBIA HEIGHTS TRAFFIC COMMISSION MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2015 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Carlson at 5:29 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Carlson, Clerkin, Doty, Olson, Tyler Staff present: Kathy Young, Assistant City Engineer Lenny Austin, Police Captain Sue Schmidtbauer, Public Works Secretary Council Liaison: Donna Schmitt APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Tyler, second by Clerkin, to approve the minutes of December 1, 2014, as presented. Motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING A.PUBLIC HEARING TO INSTALL TWO-WAY “YIELD” OR “STOP” SIGNS AT THE ND INTERSECTION OF WASHINGTON STREET AND 42 AVENUE, YIELDING OR STOPPING TRAFFIC ON WASHINGTON STREET At the December meeting, the Traffic Commission called for a Public Hearing to consider the above. A hearing notice was published in the Sun Focus and sent to residents within 300 feet of the intersection. Residents who signed a petition in 2011 were also notified. Becky Chudek was present at the hearing and is requesting a stop sign to protect the children. She feels a stop sign will help reduce accidents. There are 18 kids on the block who play on the northwest corner at 4208 Washington Street. Mr. Stemper, who lives across the street, was present to offer support due to the heavy traffic and accidents. States there is a steady stream of bicyclers and skateboarders who come down the hill as well as people walking dogs. States the street is a major attraction to skateboarders because of the hill and it is very busy. He has lived there for seven years and feels a stop sign would make a difference. Jeff Chudek has concerns about the children playing in the neighbor’s double lot as a car has already ended up in her front yard. The house on the northeast side has also been hit. He feels seeing a sign would help motorists realize that they should slow down. Olson stated that’s part of the dilemma with signs; do drivers really heed the sign? Carlson agreed; if you put a sign where there shouldn’t be one, motorists tend to ignore it. Olson brought up the abundance of yield and stop signs we already have in the city and questioned how many accidents occur at these controlled intersections. Austin advised there are a lot of accidents. Sometimes a sign doesn’t help at all. Young stated that trimming the tree on the corner has improved visibility. However, there is a concern that even with the tree trimmed up, in a heavy snow the branches can still sag down and obstruct visibility, so we may need to consider installing a sign. However, because the tree is trimmed up, another approach would be to table the request and see if it does reduce the number of accidents at the intersection. Jodi Long of 4206 Washington Street does not Traffic Commission Minutes – January 5, 2015 Page 2 feel this will help. She stated people drive fast; for every one accident she sees 10 near misses. Tyler agrees that the intersection needs signage and feels we should install a sign to alert motorists to slow down. Carlson would like to table the request now that tree is trimmed and see what takes place between now and summer. Tyler disagrees, feels the tree is not the problem; thinks people are just going through the intersection. Carlson feels this is like any other intersection with speeders coming through . Olson asked Captain Austin if there were a stop or yield sign there, would a driver be cited for failure to stop or yield due to an accident. Austin replied yes with a stop sign and possibly with a yield sign. There are many controlled intersections in the city that have a lot of accidents as well. There is no requirement for an officer to cite, it all depends on the circumstances and severity of accident. Sometimes a violation is unclear so they don’t cite. For example, they can cite for too fast for conditions but if it’s icy one way, it may be icy the other, it depends on severity of the accident. Even if there is not a citation issued, it is still noted who is at fault in the accident report. Ms. Long stated she has never seen a car slide through the intersection; they are always going too fast and not yielding. Doty stated that last year two accidents were due to the roads being too icy. Clerkin does not believe putting up more signs is the answer as he feels we have too many already; but he does agree that this one has come up so often putting a yield sign up may be warranted. Young advised that yielding or stopping north and south bound traffic may cause a tendency for east and west bound vehicles to go faster because they know the other direction is supposed to stop, so that is a concern as well. Mr. Chudek remembers most accidents being from the south. He asked about speed bumps on the northbound side of the intersection to slow that part down. Tyler stated a speed bump is ineffective at 30 MPH and will damage your car or cause a driver to lose control; they are usually for 10 MPH. Olson stated speed bumps cause a problem with plowing as well.Ms. Long stated that northbound there is a big hill and cars going south aren’t as bad, but many people do use the intersection. Another neighbor inquired about stats showing the number of accidents compared to surrounding intersections. Ms. Long and Ms. Chudek stated there were eight accidents last year but all of them are not on police record—some were small fender benders.They check every time they hear a crash. Ms. Long stated there are at least two accidents in the summer and two in the winter every year. Olson supports their position and feels something needs to be done about the intersection.Neighbors would like to see some data to confirm that they are not blowing this out of proportion--does this intersection really have a lot of accidents compared to others, such as Minneapolis. The question was asked if we have more accidents at controlled intersections than Minneapolis. Doty stated signs in Columbia Heights are laid out differently than Minneapolis. Minneapolis signs are approximately every two blocks, Columbia Heights is set up randomly; they are not uniform like Minneapolis.Carlson does not know what we have for stats outside of this area. Ms. Long would like a “Slow Down Children” sign. Olson stated drivers that disregard yield and stop signs will disregard those signs also. Olson is supportive of a yield sign. He is opposed to signage as people generally disregard, but feels this intersection has a unique situation as there were a lot of accidents in 2014. Traffic Commission Minutes – January 5, 2015 Page 3 Staff recommends controlling north and south bound traffic. Residents discussed the other direction, but almost every accident has been from the south so it would make more sense to stop northbound traffic. Carlson stated a sign at the bottom of the hill is not good. Olson st brought up the yield sign that was installed on 41 Avenue and Washington Street. All present feel that sign seems to have helped. Motion by Tyler to recommend to the City Council that we install a two-way yield sign at the intersection of nd Washington Street and 42 Avenue yielding traffic on Washington Street north and south. Motion seconded by Olson. Schmidt agrees this intersection warrants some kind of sign because a lot of the accidents don’t get reported. She feels this happens with a lot of intersections. Motion carried. Young advised this will need to go to the next council meeting. Carlson advised residents to show up at the next council meeting in case there are more questions. Residents stated they will be there. OLD BUSINESS None. OTHER OLD BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS None. OTHER NEW BUSINESS None. REPORTS A.CITY ENGINEER ndthrdth Young stated we have been monitoring the intersections of 42 and 7 Avenue and 43 and 7 Avenue because they have come up in the recent past and were denied. However, we did state rdth we would monitor them to see what types of accidents were occurring. On 43 and 7 an ndth accident last January was due to icy conditions, but 42 and 7 Avenues did show quite a few th accidents again. Young made a note of where the stop signs are located in the area of 4 Street thth and Jefferson Street and 40 Avenue and 44 Avenue. There are only four uncontrolled intersections in that entire area.Doty remembered bringing up how many stop signs there are on that one stretch, vehicles need to stop on every block and would they actually stop. He th suggested moving the stop sign on Washington Street to 7 Avenue to eliminate having to stop on every block. Austin stated records show that we had only a few accidents until 2014, but there was also a lot of snow in 2014 and accidents were mostly in the winter months, which is a significant contributing factor.Doty agreed last winter was severe and chemicals did not work, making the roads icy. Questioning the number of accidents or is it just a statistic because of the weather and visibility issues, and problems with getting salt and sand on the roads. Austin feels it was a tough year last year. Olson feels a lot of these requests are just reactive but feels we Traffic Commission Minutes – January 5, 2015 Page 4 should have fewer signs so drivers will respect them. Young advised we will continue to monitor the intersections in 2015 and see what happens. Police will search the accident records at the end of 2015. Doty asked if can monitor the number of cars on these roads in the summer. Police has to monitor the speed with speed trailer and will do it in the summer. Austin does not feel speed is the problem. Often residents feel someone is flying down the street but usually they’re not, a few miles over the speed limit looks fast on a residential block. Young stated we ndth did take traffic counts at 42 Avenue and 7 Street in July and September and they showed an average count in each direction of about 300 cars. B.POLICE None. C.COMMISSIONERS None. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Olson, second by Tyler to adjourn the meeting at 6:15 p.m. Motion carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Sue Schmidtbauer, Public Works Secretary