Category Archives: Traffic

City Council, Peoria Police, Traffic

Council Roundup: Jaywalking and “W. B.” Grayeb

Councilwoman Van Auken expressed appreciation for the Peoria Police and defended their enforcement of laws against jaywalking.  She suggested that if people think jaywalking laws are stupid, perhaps they should work on repealing such laws.  And that was the last sensible comment made on the subject.

Following Van Auken, several council members scoffed at the police doing their jobs by acting on citizen concerns and issuing tickets to scofflaws.  Reasons? 

There are more important crimes on which they should be focusing, one said.  Yes.  And there are more important crimes than speeding and seat belt violators, but they set up stings for those all the time.  Not compelling.

Another was concerned that it will drive pedestrians away from downtown.  I never realized that running across a busy street while dodging cars was the definition of “pedestrian friendly.”  One wonders why we bother putting up Walk/Don’t Walk signals all over town with countdowns and everything if they’re such an impediment to a pleasant pedestrian experience.  Let’s be real friendly and require pedestrians to take their lives in their hands on all busy streets!

Still another council person thought it was too heavy-handed of a response to write tickets.  I suppose they could have handed out warnings, especially since they had never enforced jaywalking before, so I’ll give them that one.

But then there was my favorite reason:  the law is too difficult to understand.  Yep.  That was one of Morris’s and Sandberg’s complaints.  I guess there are some loopholes in the jaywalking law (what law doesn’t have loopholes?), and because of that, we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, according to these two council members.  If this discussion hadn’t gotten completely ridiculous prior to this point, it crossed the line here.

But just when you thought it couldn’t get any goofier, “W. B.” Grayeb chimed in.  You know what the “W. B.” stands for, don’t you?  Yep, you guessed it: “Water Buyout.”  This is the only issue Grayeb cares about anymore.  All discussions come back around to the water buyout, somehow, some way.  We got our weekly report on how RWE (did you know they’re foreign owned?) isn’t going to be selling American Water Company in pieces.

I’ll revisit “W. B.” Grayeb in a future post.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Traffic

Make Adams and Jefferson two-way

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Back when downtown had lots of retail shopping and there were lots of people converging on downtown every day, it made sense to increase capacity along Adams and Jefferson streets by converting them to one-way.  But today, this configuration is unnecessary.  And with the I-74 redesign, this configuration makes even less sense.

It used to be that you could enter I-74 east or west from Adams.  This made sense because Adams was one way heading out of the central business district.  You could hop on Adams and zip down to the expressway.  However, the entrance ramp to 74 east was too short and, thus, dangerous.

So now the entrance ramp to 74 east is on Fayette between Jefferson and Adams.  So, if you’re leaving downtown, you now have to loop around to hit it.  If you’re going north on Adams, that means you have to go left on Bryan, left on Jefferson, left on Fayette, and voila! you’ve found the on-ramp.  Not very efficient traffic flow.

It’s just one more reason why we should change these streets to two-way.

At-large councilman Chuck Grayeb suggested that very thing back in October, but the idea was pooh-poohed by Public Works Director Steve Van Winkle.  But check out his reasoning:

Public works director Steve Van Winkle says a conversion could actually hurt one of the Heart of Peoria Plan’s principles of a “pedestrian” downtown. “There is a desire whenever possible to make streets narrower. You virtually give up that option if you go two-way. It’s much easier to narrow a one-way street because you usually have excess capacity.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  Sounds like he’s really bought in to the Heart of Peoria Plan principles, right?  One problem: the Heart of Peoria Plan actually recommends — specifically — converting Adams and Jefferson to two-way streets.  On page III.14, they have a whole project called “Conversion of One-Way Streets,” complete with discussion.  Here’s an exerpt:

According to the transportation consultant, the typical 60 foot wide street section in downtown Peoria is far too wide for one way traffic, given either the existing or the proposed travel demand. Traffic flow, at the levels indicated by the available data, is simply not a sufficient justification for continuing the one way pattern.
Recommendation: Reconfigure Jefferson and Adams Streets for two-way traffic, with on-street parking.

This makes me question whether Van Winkle has even read the Heart of Peoria Plan.  But, seriously, this isn’t a difficult decision that needs lots of justification from consultants and traffic experts.  Just go downtown sometime and tell me whether, based on your experience alone, you think it’s really necessary to have four lanes of one-way traffic, and whether the traffic flow to enter the interstate heading out of downtown makes sense to you.

It’s time to make Adams and Jefferson two-way.

Peoria Police, Traffic

Peorians are passionate about their jaywalking

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Why the uproar over the crackdown on jaywalking? There can be no doubt that it’s rampant in Peoria. 

I see two little girls cross Forrest Hill about 20 feet west of Sheridan Road so they can get to their school bus stop at the corner of Forrest Hill and Sheridan.  Wouldn’t it be safer for them to cross at the light?  I don’t remember much from geometry class, but I think it’s pretty clear that they would be walking the same distance, and since they only cross when traffic is stopped for the red light anyway, they’re not saving any time either.

Then there’s Knoxville where little kids up to grown adults cross the street wherever they feel like it, often causing traffic to brake to avoid a collision.  Right around Cub Foods it’s especially bad, although the whole strip between McClure and interstate sees its fair share of jaywalkers.  Not long ago, a young boy on his bike lost his life at the corner of Knoxville and Forrest Hill for crossing against the light.

So what’s the big deal about the police enforcing jaywalking laws?  I mean, isn’t that why we have police — to enforce the law?  Isn’t that why we have a jaywalking ordinance — to keep people from jaywalking?

Greg and Dan on WMBD radio’s morning show scoffed — and I mean scoffed — at the idea of police enforcing these laws.  They’re defense? 

“Everybody does it.” 

“There are more important things the police should be focusing on.” 

“We’re adults and know how to cross the street; we needn’t be treated like children.”

“Pedestrians who get hit are punished enough; they don’t need a ticket.” 

Chief Settingsgaard came on the show just before 8:00 and even he agreed that jaywalking was a cultural thing in Peoria.  Residents here apparently don’t mind because they don’t complain about it, and the recent crackdown was only in response to a complaint.

Great! Can we please use this same logic on seat belt use?  I bet the police don’t get any complaints from citizens that other people aren’t wearing seat belts, and I bet most people wouldn’t care if that law were never enforced.  There are more important things the police could be focusing on, and adults should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to buckle up.  And certainly the schmo who gets in an accident without his seat belt on will suffer enough without getting a ticket.  If there were ever the perfect example of a nanny-state law, that’s it.

Yet in contrast, the police actually set up roadblocks to check motorists for seat belt use.  Last summer, there were numerous “safety checks.”  Where was the outcry then?  It’s surprising to me that Peorians hold jaywalking as a fundamental right, but are willing to tolerate invasion of their privacy on seat belt matters.

My suggestion:  if jaywalking is not important, repeal all ordinances making it a crime.  Problem solved.  Otherwise, I say let the police do their job and enforce it, and stop whining about it.  That’s what they tell me whenever I complain about seat belt laws.Â