On Tuesday night’s City Council agenda is a grant application to the Federal Highway Administration’s “Highway Safety Improvement Program” to improve Main Street from Sheridan Road to Glendale Avenue (see map to the right). This corridor would be eligible for funding because it is a “high accident location” and because it has a “high cost benefit ratio,” according to the request for council action.
The request goes on to explain the types of strategies that could be used to improve safety along the corridor. They include:
…narrowing this section of Main Street from 5 lanes to 3 lanes with paint striping, installing speed feedback signage, installing additional speed limit signs, installing flashing crosswalk signs, and installing improved curve signage near Crescent Avenue. Additionally, parking and/or loading zones could be considered where applicable and needed, and would help narrow the roadway. Main Street from Sheridan Road to Glendale Avenue, as part of the larger Main Street Corridor, has recently been studied with the idea of incorporating New Urban concepts, which would make it more attractive and pedestrian friendly. All these proposed safety strategies fit into the larger picture for the roadway and would not prohibit any future improvements.
If the request is approved, the city will seek a $48,500 grant. The application has to be in by April 10, and awards will be announced in July. All grant money awarded will be for use in 2010.
1.}so how many accidents ,in what time frame ,are we talking about??
Would be nice if someone would be specific! 2.}What is the average speed through this area? 3.} How many cars per day?
We always have these so called experts come in {for a fee}to tell us what to do .
Seems this will cause congestion and will eliminate parking ?
What is the real reason?
Meanwhile the sidewalks in the rest of the city continue to crumble, ignored.
Wouldn’t this be the area where the new super medical building just opened?
VOTE NO! oops, wrong issue…
I agree with Vonster. This is just another backroom deal.
$48,500 for these seven blocks and $1,906,465.11 for Columbia Terrace’s 10?
Why not get a grant for Columbia Terrace and pay for Main Street out of city money?
NARROW the streets? Do they think narrowing 4 lanes into 3 at that curve will improve the safety? Add a city or school bus, UPS delivery truck, or a park district flower watering truck into the equation and you have a got a real traffic problem.
Widen to 5 lanes with a street car in the middle lane… now you’re talkin’.
kcdad: You may find this surprising, but it is significantly cheaper to narrow the street with paint striping than to improve a corridor with new sidewalks, roadbed, and lighting.
And yes, narrowing the street and lowering speeds will improve safety. Do you find it safer to cross a five-lane highway or a three-lane street? Is slower or faster traffic considered safer?
Why strangle traffic in the hope that a couple of businesses will open up so that the people with no money that live in the area can shop at them?
C.J. and Karrie, great contributions to today’s PJS. Roberta Parks (Chamber of Commerce) seems to be inserting her bad ideas into the affairs of both county schools and District 150 lately.
Mdd,
Over half of the traffic on Main Street is neither from the West Bluff nor going to the West Bluff. That traffic needs to find its way back onto the Interstate, which interestingly has less traffic today than it did before the upgrade. Narrowing the roadway will make the area for attractive to small businesses and residents who could afford to shop there.
I cross at the intersections… I know that is an unusual concept for many