By Jordan Studer
jstuder@wbcowqel.com
Wednesday morning’s Traffic Commission meeting was full of discussion on ways to keep pedestrians safe.
The biggest portion of the discussion was about the crosswalk issues on Warren Street and Rensselaer where cars do not yield for pedestrians. The problem lies in the factor that the stop lights change based on whether or not there is a car there to trigger it. If there is not a car, then the light won’t change and the pedestrian doesn’t know when it’s safe to walk. There have been citizen complaints that cars come out of nowhere and do not yield for pedestrians.
The Traffic Commission came up with an idea that could possibly take care of that problem. They want to try changing the north and south lights on Warren and Rensselaer to change every 35 seconds while the east and west lights would change every 15 seconds. The goal is to try to replicate the light on Walnut Street.
“I think this is a liability issue for the city. And we know it’s a problem… We know it’s a safety issue, and if we don’t act I think we have some issues here,” Mayor Jeff Reser voiced during the discussion.
The commission would first like to have the lights set for a 90-day trial. No motion was made on this issue, however. There will be another meeting at 10 a.m. on July 6th for further discussion.
The commission also discussed that these crosswalks on Warren and Rensselaer are not the only crosswalks that have issues in Bucyrus. They mentioned that they would like to look into more ways to make crosswalks safer for pedestrians to cross and making drivers more alert.
The commission is also in the process of trying to design a plan to increase the amount of parking on various streets in Bucyrus.
To help with that, a minor change on the east side of Rensselaer, east of Swigart Street, will take place. A 90-day-trial was approved to take down the no parking sign and allow parking on the east side of Rensselaer. Many other ideas were brought up for other streets but nothing else was approved.
Multiple motions were also approved at the meeting. The first approved was no parking on the north side of Nora Street. Secondly, it was approved to enforce no parking on the east side of Inez Street south of Reid Street and no parking on Inez north of Reid on either side. A third motion was approved for a 90-day-trial to make Charlotte and East a three-way stop.
Amongst the old business, it was mentioned that the speed limit change on North Sandusky out to Pickwick Place is in progress. A concern was also brought up that on Route 4 North of U.S. 30 there is not a berm for people to walk or ride bikes safely on the street.
Mayor Reser briefly mentioned that the problem had been noted a while back and they are trying to start the process of putting in a bike path there. He said that the designs had already been made but the city will have to wait for a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation.