Today was the first day of a little venture I've begun with the City of Midland, and I plan on keeping you posted on how that venture develops in the weeks - months? - that lie ahead.
This first report begins with a discussion during the National Night Out party we hosted in our front yard, last night. Ours is a north-to-south street, that sees some traffic going way-too-fast for a residential street, especially one that's posted 20 mph.
It's also a street that's been seeing more kids over the last few years. Such was the case when these homes were brand new ..... but those kids have long since grown and moved on. Their parents have passed away, or moved to a retirement community - though there are still some living here. But the point is, our street is once again filling with kids running around, playing ball, riding bikes and scooters, and getting in the way of traffic.
This street is also popular with walkers and joggers, and we see plenty of them, around-the-clock, some with dogs in tow, more and more of them pushing strollers. During the school year, high school athletes use our street for road work most afternoons.
Cross-traffic is stopped at every intersection, but through traffic has no stops for four blocks, and there's temptation to speed, maybe to get ahead of that pesky traffic signal, and the rest of the traffic on Garfield. And let me stress something ..... we're NOT talking about a lot of kids in over-large, over-noisy pickups, barreling down the road - though there are SOME. Actually, quite a few of our speeders are older, driving late-model, expensive sedans and SUV's.
It's not a problem on the rest of our street, where you have 4-way stops every two blocks. Ours is the only part of this street that doesn't have a 4-way stop after two blocks ..... and you can see the difference.
So, this morning I went to City Hall, and visited with Gary Saunders, Transportation Manager for the City of Midland. We had a nice visit, a friendly, two-way discussion of residents' concerns, and what the City can do to address those concerns. The first step, he told me, will be a survey of the traffic, to see if a change to a 4-way stop is warranted. He has set that process in motion, and promised to contact me when they get the results.
He warned me that the survey may not indicate a need for the change ..... but that's not the end of the process. We could then petition the City for the change. He offered to go over that process with me, if-and-when it's needed. But first, we'll see the results of the survey.
We'll see how it goes from here.
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3 comments:
We have the Bluebird expressway and Whitman burnout corner where I live. Bluebird delivers close to 2 1/2 miles of non-stop except for 2 major intersections. We have discussed at length with the city about putting a 3 way stop on the N. Whitman intersection cause for one thing there is a school up the street, a crosswalk and long lines of traffic trying to leave the school. Second, is to slow traffic down, we were informed that a stop sign can not be used for that purpose. I guess the difference being its kinda sorta a major throughway and not a strictly residential street. Anyway, good luck with keeping the peace.
We live on Maxwell off of Garfield and people flat out speed down our street. We are the throughway to the college, I think.
Bleu and Janie, thanks for stopping in. I can sympathize with you both ..... though I suspect you may have the edge on us all, Bleu.
I'll keep everyone posted on developments along the street where I live.
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