William & 5th

Stopped. Watched. icon

5:55 p.m. 3 police, 2 fire trucks, 2 ambulance, and 2 tow trucks clearing up accident on William at AADL main branch. [Editor's note: In response to a query in passing to a firefighter on the scene, "Everybody okay?" he replied with a nod, yes.]

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5 Comments

  1. By Tim
    April 13, 2009 at 5:25 pm | permalink

    I have lived near this intersection for a few years, and the number of accidents (at all times of day) seems abnormally high. A few years ago a car crashed right into the house on the SW corner. Seems like a good candidate for a safety study.

  2. By Tom Whitaker
    April 13, 2009 at 9:40 pm | permalink

    Unfortunately, Ann Arbor intersections don’t warrant any special safety review unless they’re in the top 50 for crashes (out of thousands in the City). If you did manage to convince someone to do a study, it would probably consist of a traffic consultant in a remote location, taking generic assumptions from actuary tables and applying them to statistical models.

    The only traffic studies being done are by developers, but then only if they’re forced to because their proposed development exceeds a high threshold of potential trips generated. And who calculates the number of trips generated? A traffic consultant in a remote location, hired by the developer, taking generic assumptions from actuary tables and applying them to statistical models.

    Drivers routinely speed down Fifth Ave., thanks to the timed traffic lights, and crashes are common. Street calming measures, planned and funded by the DDA, have been delayed another year so the City can build a new parking structure on Fifth Ave. This will help enable more vehicles to come downtown and enjoy the newly calmed Fifth Ave.

  3. April 13, 2009 at 10:11 pm | permalink

    Not having a crosswalk and traffic calming on fifth between the AADL and AATA is one of the most pedestrian-unfriendly things I’ve seen in this city.

  4. By Scott
    April 14, 2009 at 6:49 am | permalink

    Traffic calming on 5th Ave would be problematic, as it is a main route for the City Fire Department to the south side of town. Any delay in FD response may equal added suffering…

  5. By Alan
    April 14, 2009 at 11:26 pm | permalink

    The day will come when some high-school kid will get run down crossing from the library to the AATA and maybe then someone will care about that stretch of Fifth. It if were merely one of the homeless, I’m sure this city would be unmoved.

    Also, I ignore all pleas for emergency services’ convenience when it comes to traffic calming — it is a canard. And the last person to ever ask about the appropriateness of traffic calming is a traffic engineer.