Traffic Calming at Wheeling and Scenic Drive

Mayor Pro-Tem Susie Byrd summarizes the actions at a recent meeting (July 29th) regarding a proposal to change the traffic pattern at Wheeling and Scenic Drive:

"Because of the high speeds coming off of the mountain onto Wheeling, traffic engineering is recommending closing access on the south side of Wheeling at the topof Scenic. So basically you could go up Wheeling to Scenic but could not leave Scenic on Wheeling. You would have to go down to Richmond or Louisville to access the neighborhoods.

Comments and concerns ranged at the meeting: several people are anxious to get this done quickly because of long time concerns about safety. Other people who often use this access wanted some more information about the actual speeds on this and other streets and what the impact would be on Louisville and Richmond. Everyone agreed that this closure should not include a sort of pocket park as it would encourage loitering in this area. Traffic is pretty adamant that this is the only solution (while admitting it as a drastic solution) that would really seriously slow traffic down this portion of Wheeling.

Traffic engineers agreed to gather some additional information to distribute to all impacted and interested parties which would include: speeds on Wheeling, Louisville and Richmond; traffic counts on these three streets to get a better idea of how diverting traffic from Wheeling would impact Louisville and Richmond and an assessment of whether a temporary solution could be put in place so that people could get a feel for the long term impact of this solution.

The resurfacing of Wheeling will happen in the fall so they would like to get all feedback and ideas back as soon as possible. I will forward you the information when it becomes available to me."