Friday, August 25, 2006

Metro Traffic and Parking Looks into 5th Avenue Traffic Calming Possibilities

Today I met with a Metro Traffic and Parking official who was following up on the unfortunate phone call I had the other day concerning unsafe traffic conditions for pedestrians around 5th Av. and Hume St. in Salemtown. We met at the intersection.

He told me that after completing some study of the intersection, a crosswalk is probably out of the question, but he did encourage me to request a four-way stop. I told him I had pursued it in the past without any luck. I also do not think it will fly because two more stop signs at the intersection would make it harder for the 18-wheelers coming and going from the Werthan Packing Plant to negotiate the turn with cars waiting to go through. He acknowledged that he had to move his parked car at one point to allow a truck to go through the intersection.

He promised to look into other traffic calming possibilities. One possibility he mentioned for the stretch of 5th between Van Buren and Hume was putting down white lines on the right-hand side of each lane, which might narrow driver perceptions about the width of the lanes. He said he would follow up as soon as found something out. I'll keep you posted.

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