99-110 DESIGNATING ALL-WAY STOP INTERSECTION - MACARTHUR ROAD AND ASH AVENUE

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EXCERPTS FROM MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE TRAFFIC AND PARKING COMMISSION Wednesday, October 13, 1999 ITEM#1 General discussion of Ash Avenue concerns. Matthew Newell combined the discussion items for this area into one and will handle it as one recommendation. The staff review lists the accidents and descriptions at the intersection of Ash at MacArthur and the accidents that have occurred between Route 51 and MacArthur on Ash. Most of the accidents along Ash were people backing out of their drives. One was a car hitting a garbage truck. The average 85th percentile speed runs around 36 to 37 mph, which is a little higher than he would like. Generally, collector streets such as this are in the 30 to 35 mph range. Staff has also attached the Federal Warrants for an all-way stop condition. They state that there needs to be either high accidents, high traffic volumes, sight distance or other things that make it necessary for an all-way stop. At this intersection, the Federal Warrants indicate that at 40 mph the volumes criteria should be reduced to 70% of the normal requirements, and using those volumes the intersection does warrant an all-way stop. Staff still thinks that an all-way stop is not necessary at this time, but will support the Commission should it recommend one. It is reasonable to assume that people who live in the area know there are times it is difficult to get through to MacArthur due to congestion. Putting in an all-way stop will reduce that congestion and will, therefore, add to the people who will want to use Ash. They will now know it is easy to get to MacArthur through Ash. Newell expects an increase in traffic because it will be easier to get onto MacArthur from Ash. Doing anything on Ash to increase the capacity on that street will increase traffic, since it will be easier for cars to travel on the street. Staff s recommendation is not to install an all-way stop at this time. Another big request of the residents was that each intersection along Ash have a stop sign. Designating Ash as a through street would require that every side street would have a stop sign (five intersections). That is just a quick way of getting stop signs at intersections without doing each intersection separately. Ash is officially designated as a collector street, which is a street where homes are accessed, but it is primarily used to carry traffic from one end of the street to the other. Mr. Mike Unruh, 426 Ash Avenue, was asked to speak on behalf of the area residents. From � letters staff has received, they know the concerns of the residents are speed and accidents. He believes everyone should have to stop anyway at every intersection because Ash is a through street. There have been no reported accidents on the street, but they have seen accidents as recently as two months ago. People are conditioned to Ash, its speeds and conditions, and people regularly pass other vehicles on the right side, going over curbs if necessary. That is why stop signs are necessary at every intersection.