98-64 ESTABLISHING YIELD INTERSECTION

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EXCERPTS FROM MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE TRAFFIC AND PARKING COMMISSION Wednesday, September 9, 1998 ITEM#1 Request for stop signs at the intersection of Airlane and Hayden Drives facing Hayden Drive. This item was discussed at the July meeting, and was then tabled to have additional information , gathered. I Matthew Newell had new traffic counts done at this intersection and at other intersections in the I nei borhood. Those counts are as indicated on the ma s distributed at the meetin . One ma Sh P $ P shows that Airlane is the main traffic corridor through the neighborhood, and the intersections with the highest traffic counts are Beacon at Airlane and Hayden at Airlane. After reviewing the new data, staff is recommending a yield sign at the intersection of Hayden at Airlane, facing Hayden, instead of the stop signs proposed at the July meeting. . The only accidents recorded for this intersection were one about five years ago and then again last year (two in a row within a few weeks of each other in 1997), but there were no accidents between those years and there have not been any since then. Since the traffic accident rate is about what you would expect for an intersection of this type and the accidents appear to be random, staff recommends that yield signs be installed. If accident problems continue to occur in the next several years, then stop signs can be requested. Nordholm believes it would be inconsistent to put yield signs at Hayden and not at Beacon. Newell stated that traffic counters were not used when stop signs were put in at Beacon and Airlane. At that time, the Commission apparently thought that Beacon was the major street. Fire Battalion Chief James Gillen believes it appears to be a different situation at Beacon and Airlane if the stop signs are in the conect place. Nordholm would like for the stop signs to be taken down at Beacon if this is the situation. Newell emphasized that there have been no accidents at Beacon and Airlane in the past several years, so if there is no reason to change it, the Commission should not change it. Bruce Moore added that there is a lot of traffic in the morning and evening that uses Airlane from Baker Woods to 44th Street. Probably the busiest intersection of all of these is Beacon from the back streets and Airlane. He believes the stop sign helps to control traffic in that area.