Linking 2 Goals
“If City Hall can react so fast to changing the timing of the lights — after telling us for 4 years it was impossible — then they certainly can put up ‘No Turn’ signs,” two prominent members of the Senior Center said this morning.
“This is about saving lives by making a very dangerous crossing a little safer.”
O’Leary’s Intervention
After community activist Mehaul O’Leary brought the senior citizen vulnerability at the intersection to the City Council’s attention at the end of February, he collaborated with Dr. Janet Hoult and Charles Hoult to research the problem in significant depth.
On March 2, the three of them shared a byline on the subject in this newspaper. By the middle of last week, the problem of short signal lights seemed to have been solved.
Uncorking a Mystery
“I am baffled by the speed with which City Hall reacted,” Mr. O’Leary said this morning.
“All I ever have heard from the seniors at the Center is that the city told them for years they could not increase the signal time because it would mess up the synchronization for the city’s entire signal light system.”
Speaking from his upper floor office at City Hall this afternoon, Mr. Herbertson said the assertion about affecting the city’s system was untrue.
Contrary Information
In addition to Mr. O’Leary, though, other persons at the Senior Center confirmed that City Hall has given them that explanation ever since the new Center opened in ’03.
“Changing the timing of the signal lights is not about synchronization,” Mr. Herbertson said. “Instead, it is based on engineering criteria. One factor is measuring the distances” from one side of the street to the other.
The standard for timing signals, he said, is that the average pedestrian travels 4 feet per second. At Overland-Culver, though, the city measured from the wheelchair ramps, which widened the measuring distance. Further, they gauged the walking pace at 3 1/2 feet per second instead of 4 feet.
Basis for Reasoning
“We cannot make these kinds of decisions arbitrarily,” Mr. Herbertson explained.
“We always try to take engineering principles into account. What we did is justifiable in view of the large senior population.”
As for the “No Turn” signage the Senior Center will be pursuing, the Public Works director said that competing interests need to be considered.
Keeping Everybody Happy
“We have to balance their desires with not inconveniencing traffic, with keeping vehicles moving at a satisfactory pace,” he said.
When signage is posted, Mr. Herbertson said, “usually it is because of traffic issues rather than with pedestrians.”
One alternative, he said, “would be to look at increased enforcement.”
The Public Works director promised to huddle soon with his staff over the “No Right Turn on Red” signage. “We probably will talk about an informational sign,” he said, “rather than a regulatory one.”
Election Day — Plus One Year
As for Mr. O’Leary — who probably is hoping to be elected to the City Council one year from today — he clarified an earlier accreditation.
He said he only “planned” to petition members of the Senior Center about urging the City Council to adjust the signal lights.
“The lights were fixed so fast I only got as far as the language for the petition,” he said. “Nobody ever saw or signed the petition. Which makes the fast work of the city all the more mysterious. But it really pleases me.”
LaPointe Makes His Point
Parks and Recreation Director Bill LaPointe said this afternoon that he advanced a separate idea for improving the safety factor at the corner, especially for south-bound traffic at the northwest corner, the nearest to the Senior Center grounds.
For the far-right turn lane, he suggested carving a series of horizontal grooves in the roadway. This would serve as a warning to drivers that they are entering an unusually fragile area.
