City Drags Feet - Traffic Survey Needed

[iwasthere]

the seventh ward hosted a towne hall meeting last thursday, a question was asked to him about this matter and he said that he would call jim ferrarro to put this matter to rest. however at a recent wrta board meeting this matter was discussed and the wrta director said that the mayor would assist on this matter but sasho never made an effort to talk to jim ferraro to put  this traffic issue to rest.

[jay]

I've heard that Mayor Jay Williams has no problem with the city's participation in this matter.
The traffic study will take place.

[iwasthere]

the wrta board at their april meeting gone on record that the wrta board members are waiting for the city's partnership on this matter.

[cs conglose]

I don't usually post on message boards, but I must weigh in here. First, the City, or any other public agency is under no obligation to conduct a traffic study to assess the access needs of a private entity. Using ODOT's procedure as a model, the traffic generator, in this case WRTA, is obligated to commission the study, if they perceive a need, and present the findings to the city. The City would then review the findings and respond accordingly. Once the remedial action is agreed upon, then the two entities can talk about cost sharing for the agreed upon improvements. That's the way it works everywhere. This issue with WRTA's perceived need of a signal was originally discussed back in 2006, at which time they were informed of the process, by me.

It never ceases to amaze me that many of the very individuals who continually cry that government needs to scale back its operations to reduce costs in line with available revenues, at the same time continually want more services. The City has no traffic engineering technical staff, just operations and maintenance personnel. Conducting a proper impact analysis study is both data and labor intense. The City would have to contract for these services, which costs money that is not contemplated in the public works department budget. Over the past several years, WRTA received a considerable amount of federal stimulus funding for facility improvements, and chose not to use even the small portion of those funds that would be required to commission the study. The City is absolutely correct in requiring WRTA to bear the cost of the study.   

[iwasthere]

stewie the next wrta board meeting is may 26, 2011 at the wrta headquarters on mahoning ave where the traffic light is in question. this would be the time to find out your answer to your question.

[stewie]

It's my understanding that the WRTA is willing to pay a large portion of the cost for the traffic study.

Also, west bound traffic coming off the Spring Commons Bridge is a large part of the problem.   Because of the angle of the bridge, it is difficult to see the oncoming vehicles and many motorists only do a rolling stop at the light on the west end of the bridge (Oak Hill and Mahoning).

Slightly Off Topic
Did you ever try to make a left turn onto Mahoning Avenue from the driveway of the B&O Station?  It is difficult to do based on traffic volume during certain times of the day.

In most Cities when a developer wants to add a signal due to improvements made on their own property, the developer, in this case WRTA, will pay for or perform the necessary traffic studies.  Didn't they have an engineer that designed the improvements on site?  They are asking for the signal. Why should the City pay ANYTHING for a study when they don't even know if a signal is justified there?  In my opinion the City of doing the right thing in not participating, if that is the case.  If the study shows that a signal is needed then ask the City to participate in the project.

[iwasthere]

I HEARD SASHO AT THE CITY HALL IS THE PROBLEM FOR THIS DELAY.

[mrniles266]

 ::)If this is a problem area, i should be taken care of. Big cities with Rapid bus lines use signal preemption. Don't Fire and Ambulance's use something like his?

[jay]

I don't work for the WRTA but I am a frequent transit rider.

Traffic signals are added or removed based upon the outcome of requested traffic surveys. 

This probably would have been a story in the newspaper.  It's just too bad that the local paper doesn't send reporters to cover most public government meetings.

[Penguins37]

That definitely sounds like the WRTA has a personal motive here.  @Jay how do you know so much about the inside thinking of WRTA?  Do you work for WRTA?  it sounds like you have some good inside information.

Regardless, how is it the City's responsibility to provide for the WRTA.  Youngstown has over 200 signalized intersections, should they really pay to install another one if the entity saying they need it will not even take the initiative to do the legwork of the study?

[jay]

It's my understanding that the WRTA is willing to pay a large portion of the cost for the traffic study.

Also, west bound traffic coming off the Spring Commons Bridge is a large part of the problem.   Because of the angle of the bridge, it is difficult to see the oncoming vehicles and many motorists only do a rolling stop at the light on the west end of the bridge (Oak Hill and Mahoning).

Slightly Off Topic
Did you ever try to make a left turn onto Mahoning Avenue from the driveway of the B&O Station?  It is difficult to do based on traffic volume during certain times of the day.

[Why?Town]

Do the busses ever leave in packs? I'd hate to have to sit several minutes while these long slower moving buses form a procession in front of me.

[Why?Town]

Slow moving trucks and busses pull out onto 35 mph roads every day all across the country. I'd be more interested to to see the statistics regarding public safety of this practice (accidents, injuries,fatalities/ traffic flow) on the national, state, local levels and for WRTA's specific location, than a general traffic study which tells us practically nothing. I bet statistically there is no safety issue at all, it's just a way for WRTA to save some fuel. Which ain't neccessarily a bad thing.

[AllanY2525]

For what the #$%^&!! survey costs.. they could just put up the damn light...


Fire stations have these for when they need to back the engines into
the firehouse after returning from a call, etc...

[stewie]

This kinda sounds like WRTA is the only one benefiting from this. Why don't they just have the study done if it is that important to them?