Traffic calming in Lower Burns Park neighborhood proposed
Neighbors in the Lower Burns Park area are organizing to put in traffic calming along Golden, East Park, White, Henry and Granger Streets, based on concerns that detours from East Stadium bridge construction will divert traffic into their neighborhood.
Golden Avenue is likely to be an unofficial detour route for traffic rerouted by planned construction on the East Stadium bridge over State Street scheduled for Nov. 15-17. The official signed detour will take traffic all the way down Stadium to Packard, and locals who can figure out the one way streets in that neighborhood can and do regularly drive through rather than take the long way around. Those who don't figure out the one way streets sometimes go the wrong way.
Traffic calming - the introduction of speed bumps, bump-outs, or other traffic measures to reduce traffic speed and flow - is managed in the City of Ann Arbor by the Project Management Unit in the Public Services division. The Traffic Calming page maintained by the city provides links to a traffic calming guidebook, program progress by street, a PDF with a petition to start, qualifications for streets to be eligible for the program and tools for traffic calming.
Patrick Cawley is the project manager for the City of Ann Arbor's traffic calming projects; he was not available for comment at the time this story was written. Look for updates as this story is edited on Wednesday.
Edward Vielmetti walks through neighborhoods for AnnArbor.com. He tries to remain calm when cars go the wrong way down Golden.
Comments
just a citizen
Sun, Dec 19, 2010 : 9:49 p.m.
Add bumps and other unexpected obstacles on the detour streets, and then add drive-time motorists who have been unexpectedly channeled into unfamiliar territory. This is a recipe for INCREASED hazards. As they look around for the next detour sign, trying to figure where they are and how they are going to get where they are going, they will also be speeding up and slowing down at obstacles - some will nearly come to a stop, while others won't. Believe me, I have witnessed this REPEATEDLY. I have a bump in front of my house. I routinely see cars come to a nearly a full stop, causing a car following behind them - one that wasn't expecting a car in front of them to come to a full stop at mid-block - nearly climb up the bumper of the car in front. Add this confusion and unpredictable behavior to hundreds of detoured vehicles per day, throw in a few distracted people making calls on their mobile phones, and you have a recipe for accidents and injuries.
Ben
Wed, Nov 4, 2009 : 12:46 p.m.
Do whatever it takes to correct the wrong-way drivers, but please don't add any more speed bumps to city streets. I don't know what it's like living on these particular streets, but I do know what it's like trying to drive on nearby streets with speed bumps (or "speed humps"). They don't just prevent people from speeding; they impair travel at the posted speed. King George, Jewett, Rosewood - exceed 10 MPH at your own risk (and your car's). Sudden braking required when approaching these things invites accidents. Repeated braking and acceleration wastes fuel. There are speeders on my residential street in Ypsilanti, and I would be just as circumspect toward proposed "traffic calming" measures there.