2016-74 AUTHORIZING THE INSTALLATION OF STOP SIGNS AT THE INTERSECTION OF EAST MAIN STREET WITH 17TH STREET FACING MAIN STREET

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Excerpts from the Traffic & Parking Commission Meeting September 22, 2016 Item #2 Request for stop signs along East Main Street at its intersections with 16th Street, 17tn Street, 18r� Street, 19r� Street, and 21sr Street. Decatur Police Department notified City Staff of a high number of accidents at the intersections along East Main Street from 16t" Street to 21 st Street. Upon reviewing the accidents reports for each of those intersections from the past three years it was apparent that some of the intersections have had a high rate of accidents. In particular the intersections of Main with 16t� and Main with 17t� have had 4 and 7 accidents related to the intersection respectively. These are accident that could potentially be avoided by having stop signs. The intersection of Main with 19`� St. has had 3 accidents with the same three year period which is likely high for the intersection based on the expected amount of traffic at that intersection. The other intersections have had either 1 or 0 accidents within the three year period and don't exhibit any consistent pattern of accidents. Traffic counts were perfortned at Main and 16t� as well as Main and 17th as these were the intersections with the highest number of accidents. The intersection at 16th Street has about 684 vehicles entering the intersection daily, while at 17�h Street there are about 781 vehicles entering the intersection each day. This results in an accident rate of 5.34 accidents per million vehicles and 8.19 accidents per million vehicles at 16r" and 17t� Street intersections respectively. The goal is to keep the accident rates below 1.5 accidents per million vehicles. No counts were performed this year at any other intersections alon�this corridor but it is expected the other intersections have similar, if not smaller, volumes as that of 16t and 17t� Streets. Counts were performed at Main and 2151 back in 2013 with about 614 vehicles entering that intersection. While not every intersection along this corridor has a high accident rate, it is likely that every intersection deals with a lack of site distance and confusion about who has the right-of-way. While some intersections are affected by those factors more than others, if two of them warrant stop signs, the rest will likely need stop signs as we1L The proper placement of the stop signs will be to face E. Main Street at each intersection since E. Main Street tends to see lower volumes and lower speeds than the cross streets. E. Main Street also has multiple jogs because of the changing median width which would require vehicles to stop at 18r� Street and 20r" Street regardless of whether stop signs are present. Ci� staff recommends placing stop signs facing E. Main Street at its intersections with 16t� Street, 17`" Street, 18r Street, 19t" Street, 20t� Street, and 21 st Street. Commission Member John Ninnemann asked where and which streets will the stop sign be placed. Griffin Enyart answered it would be block for block on E. Main Street, although this is very uncommon it is believed this will help with the accidents at the intersections. Commission Member Jared Broderick asked if there are any side concerns with the boulevard in the middle of Main Street. Griffin Enyart answered that it made more sense for the signs to be placed on E. Main Street than the side streets. Commission Members Broderick, Newell, Hurst, Wigginton and Stewart voted aye. The chairman declared the motion carried.