New Traffic Signs Advise Motorists to Watch for Children at Newman Park

New signs warn motorists to slow down for children and others at Newman Park.

At their November meeting, Newman Park Neighborhood Association board members discussed the excessive speeding along Alabama Street past the park. All admitted having concerns about the safety of pedestrians and children.

Following the meeting, Association President, Jim Tolbert, emailed Representative Susie Byrd and asked what could be done - perhaps flashers similar to those near Our Lady of Guadalupe. Rep. Byrd asked Ted Marquez, the Deputy Director of the City's Department of Transportation, what he thought. Marquez advised that flashers installed cost $45,000 - by city ordinance, all at the expense of the neighborhood association. He suggested that a more cost effective alternative would be the installation of speed feedback signs at $4,000 per direction of travel.

Tolbert asked if simple warning signs could be installed. Marquez said that his Department would absorb the cost of those signs. Recently, the City's DOT installed two signs indicating children at play - one on each side of Alabama by the park.

Car dashes to beat a changing light with new warning sign and speed limit sign in view.

Changes at Wheeling and Scenic Drive

After a second meeting with neighbors, the City of El Paso traffic engineers will propose that traffic coming off of Scenic Drive onto Wheeling can be slowed down by extending the curb and rock wall to more of a 90° angle.

District 2 Representative Susie Byrd sent out this report:

"I know that this was a hot neighborhood topic so I wanted to make sure that I reported back to you on the information that was requested by the neighborhood and on the outcome of our last meeting.

Some background. For many years, the residents that live on the first two blocks of Wheeling coming off of Scenic have complained about excessive and dangerous
speeding as people drive off of Scenic. Last month, the Traffic Department presented an option to help solve the problem. They suggested that we close access on the eastbound lane of Wheeling coming off of Scenic. The solution would mean that you could go up Scenic on Wheeling but not down Wheeling from Scenic.

We had a well attended first meeting and lots of emails, questions and concerns from the neighborhood in response to that solution. Here was what was requested before we made any changes: speed data on Richmond, Louisville and Wheeling; traffic volumes on Richmond, Louisville and Wheeling; accident history on Wheeling and other options that might solve the problem.

Additional information. Based on those requests, the Traffic Department went back and gathered that information. For your review, I am attaching a document summarizing those findings. [See graphic above.] The big news was that they discovered that the speeding was primarily limited to taking the turn. On average people were taking the turn from Scenic onto Wheeling at about 26 mph, when you really want to limit turning motions to about 10 to 15 mph. This situation is made more dangerous because of the low visibility when making the turnand the steep change in elevation. As people begin to anticipate the stop sign at Kentucky, they start to slow down and are then moving at safe neighborhood speeds. They also found that there are relatively few trips on this street, about 371 eastbound trips off of Scenic. No accidents have been reported in the last seven years on this stretch.

The second solution. Based on all of this new information and based on neighborhood concerns that closing this access would add more traffic to other streets and create an inconvenience to residents of the neighborhood, the Traffic Department recommended a second option which seemed to be more acceptable to the residents at the second meeting and seems more responsive to all of the follow up emails that I received. They are suggesting that we extend the curb and the rock wall on the south side of the road so that it requires a sharper turn, more of a 90 degree angle. Right now, it is a very wide turn that doesn't require a drive to slow to take the turn. The new 90 degree angle curb would require the drive to take this turn at much lower speeds.

I wanted to make sure that all interested parties who didn't have a chance to attend the meeting had a chance to review the information and to put in their two cents. Please let me know what you think. I will gather all of the responses and submit them to Traffic on Wednesday. They can proceed fairly quickly once they get the go ahead."

Traffic Calming

The Neighborhood Association applied to the Traffic Engineering Division of the City of El Paso to do a study and to propose specific traffic calming measures for our area. Here is the commentary that was attached to the application:

"The Newman Park Neighborhood Association extends from Richmond Avenue on
the south to Nashville Avenue on the north and from Piedras to the
mountain. By agreement with the Manhattan Heights Association, our
membership boundaries also extend from Richmond Avenue to Aurora Avenue to the south.

The City of El Paso Traffic Management Program petition (attached) shows signatures of some (but by far not all) concerned residents. These signatures were collected between 9:30 and 10:30 on May 24, 2008 as Association Board members visited with a few neighbors as a beginning of the 2008 membership drive.

There are five streets of principal concern to us: Alabama, Piedras, Louisiana, Richmond and Altura. However, every street experiences some speeding between Piedras and Alabama.

With all of its steep and wavy hills, Alabama is dangerous to cross because a car may not be seen until it crests the hill at Memphis Avenue. Cars routinely speed up and down Alabama. In fact, just this past Saturday (May 24, 2008) there was a serious accident on Alabama at Hamilton Avenue.

Piedras traffic has noticeably increased in recent years and the speed limit seems to be just a suggestion to be ignored. Recently a pedestrian was killed by a motorist speeding on Piedras. The bar traffic at night seems to exacerbate the problem but volume and velocity of vehicles during the day continues to be a hazard.

Residents along Louisiana complain about speeding cars throughout the day but more often late at night or very early in the morning.

Richmond between Piedras and Alabama is a speedway. There are no stop signs between Piedras and Alabama for traffic going east and west. As vehicles often must wait an unduly long time for the light to change at Alabama, drivers often pick-up speed as they approach from the east through the residential area or the west off of Scenic Drive also through a residential area. Indeed, motorists coming off of
Scenic Drive or approaching Louisiana often race to catch the fleeting light at
Alabama.

Since Altura is a chief thoroughfare between Gateway North and South and Alabama, traffic routinely passes through the neighborhood beginning with Alabama. Drivers often speed to catch the light at Piedras going east; or, going west, they race to get to Alabama or crossover to Richmond or speed down Louisiana.

Here are some comments that exemplify the observations, opinions and sentiments of residents:

“The traffic on Alabama is so dangerous especially in the morning/evening when everyone is trying to get to work and school! I am ALWAYS afraid to cross in the
morning for fear of not seeing a car coming so fast up/down Alabama.”

“The Richmond/Louisiana crossing is how many people coming from neighborhoods south of the park get to the park. It isn’t safe without adult supervision, so young kids can’t safely just run up to the park to play (and I think they should be able to).”

“The crossing to the House of Pizza and to 7-11 is not well-lit at night. A woman was killed there about 20 years ago because the driver couldn’t see her. It is really hard to cross because the traffic goes along at a steady rate.”

“People come barreling down on Alabama towards Richmond, especially early in the morning when I sometimes walk, at around 60 miles an hour.”

“Too many vehicles are speeding between Piedras and Alabama on some of these side streets.”

“Cars race down Richmond past the park to catch the light at Richmond and Alabama.”

“Cars racing down Louisiana often wake me in the middle of the night.”

“Piedras is a speedway all day long and is especially dangerous at night with all of the drunk drivers who frequent the numerous bars on Piedras!”

“Cars are going way too fast down Altura.”

“Alabama is getting out of control and we need to act before a tragedy occurs. I am old enough to remember the two little girls who were run over in the early 70's in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. There are flashing lights now in place to slow down traffic on each side of the Church so having something similar in place near the park might help our efforts.”

Although the City of El Paso Traffic Management Program will use specific strategies to calm traffic in neighborhoods, it might be helpful to hear neighborhood perceptionsin order to assess the situation. Some suggestions by neighbors
include:

· A 4-Way stop at Richmond and Louisiana

· A 4-Way stop at Richmond and Elm

· A 4 way stop along Alabama between the Richmond light and the light at Memphis and Alabama

· Painted crosswalks or "PARK AREA AHEAD" with some flashing yellow lights as motorists approach Newman Park from the north or the south

· Painted crosswalks on Piedras at Louisville and Lebanon

Of course residents and members of the Newman Park Neighborhood Association will be most grateful for any measures that will calm traffic on the above streets mentioned as well as other neighborhood avenues."

More on Traffic Calming

Probably the best place to learn more about traffic calming measures is at Traffic Calming 101, a page on the Project for Public Places web site. In fact, take time to surf this entire site. You can even subscribe to a free emailed newsletter. "Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public places that build communities." You just can't go wrong doing that! In fact, the Newman Park Neighborhood Association Board members have recently been reading the PPS book, The Great Neighborhood Book. I recommend it to everyone who wants to love this Place we call home.

Traffic Calming

Our recent poll indicated that the vast majority of you believe that speeding is a problem not just on the main arterials of Piedras and Alabama, but on our neighborhood streets as well. 93% of the respondents said that speeding is a problem.

Traffic calming is a central concern in the City of El Paso now and, in fact, the City has begun a program to help better manage and calm traffic in our neighborhoods. I really recommend that you take a bit of time and at least scan through the Citizen Guidebook for the City of El Paso Traffic Management Program.

Our Neighborhood Association will apply for some traffic calming measures. At the very least we will get some expert guidance from our traffic engineers.

Just Google "Traffic Calming" and you will find a host of sites. TrafficCalming.org is a good source for information as are the pages on traffic calming from the Institute of Traffic Engineers.