7th & Washington

Has anyone been keeping a tally of the number of times this has happened!?!?

I’m getting the sense that there might be some kind of problem here. :)

I would phrase it this way.

The number of times the sign has been run over (4 by my count) in the number of months since it was erected (4 months) suggests exactly how dangerous this intersection is for pedestrians and bicyclists.

It also suggests that additional traffic calming steps (e.g. a traffic light, lowered speed limit, or traffic island) is critically necessary.

Eric: There IS a traffic island! (see [photo] ) I’m thinking it needs a big water-filled crash barrier at each end of the island. Maybe something like item 42C-50 from this page: [link]

Again, as much as I hate them, this might be the place for a traffic hump, bump, or whatever.

There is a flashing yellow light on 7th and a flashing red light on Washington. I don’t think putting a full signal there would be very practical with the one on Huron so close.

Any sense of whether it is 7th or Washington traffic doing the destruction? Maybe this is an artifact of the YMCA’s location further down the street.

It needs lighting.

That’s an interesting point. Wonder how feasible a street light or other mounted light might be.

As a frequent crosser of that street, I don’t think it’s due to YMCA traffic – it’s more likely the people who come barreling south on 7th and continue going south on 7th, not people turning on or off of Washington.

At least two of the times the sign was hit, it was from people turning from Westbound Washington onto Sounthbound Seventh.

@Trevor — Does that turn require a wide swing? Meaning if you cut sharply left off Washington onto 7th (like perhaps people were used to) you’d drive across the island? I was driving north on 7th the other night and thought the spot wasn’t very well lit and is so small that a person not paying attention could easily miss it. (Or NOT miss it, as the case may be.)

Sorry, I didn’t mean to say traffic island. I meant to say “mini roundabout.”

Something like this: [link]

It would have to be very visible of course, with physical massing and appropriate signage.

There are mini-roundabouts on Easy St. that are kind of interesting to think about there.

This is a nice post about options: [Link]

How about a stop sign on 7th?

As of Feb 3 the count was ten times since it was installed Oct 8, 2009, FOUR months ago.
October: 16, 19
November: 4
December: 11, 16, 21, 23
January: 4, 13, 20

I’ve now got a webcam pointed at this intersection, so we can see exactly what is happening in these accidents. [link]

I’ve already caught one accident on camera: [link]