Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Traffic Safety Committee is continuing to work on a number of ongoing concerns, including a solution for First Avenue traffic issues, changing parking time limits on the south side of Main Street and working on plans to warn bicyclists and skateboarders off of downtown sidewalks at each intersection.
Senior Engineering Technician Joe Graybill told the committee during its regular meeting on Jan. 21 that he had not had the chance to move forward on any of the concerns during the previous month but the efforts were still under way.
First Avenue
“The ongoing discussion is the speed through the area, the amount of traffic and the truck traffic through there,” Graybill said.
For years, some residents of First Avenue between highways 228 and 20 have complained about truck drivers using the street to move from one highway to the other. Truck traffic is not allowed on the street.
“People use First Avenue – quickly,” Graybill said. “That’s the reason we want to work on traffic controls.”
The city has tried several options to encourage lower speeds, Graybill said. The current prescription is two lanes, with no striping and parking on both sides of the street, which tends to force drivers to wait while others travel through a bottleneck when vehicles are parked on both sides.
The street has had parking limited to one side of the street with two true 8-foot travel lanes striped on the pavement, Graybill said. That proved to be effective at first, but drivers got used to it and driving behavior returned to the usual.
Right now, the Traffic Safety Committee is looking at “speed tables,” a sort of extended flat speed bump, with a ramp at each end of an 8- to 10-foot level stretch, Graybill said. When drivers travel at 25 mph, they are fine. It’s those who travel at 30 to 35 mph who will want to modify their driving behavior when they travel over them.
Harrisburg, among several communities, has one, Graybill said.
Options include pre-fabricated speed tables that can be bolted to the road or constructing them as part of the road, Graybill said.
He has explored the use of “chicanes,” a “bulb-out” type structure extending into the roadway to encourage slower driving, Graybill said, but that would probably cost three or four times as much as using speed tables.
Additionally, at the north end, the intersection with Main Street, the committee has discussed adding a bulb-out at the crosswalk to shorten the amount of time pedestrians are on the street and to slow down drivers turning onto First Avenue from Main Street.
Drivers tend to make the turn at relatively high speeds, Graybill said.
Parking restrictions are also a possibility at the intersection of First and Nandina to deal with sight distance issues, Graybill said.
Main Street Parking
The Traffic Safety Committee has been discussing reducing parking limits from two hours to one on the south side of Main Street for a few months, Graybill said. The committee started considering it following complaints from businesses in the 1200 block.
They wanted to see the limit reduced to 30 minutes in front of the shops there, Graybill said. They complained that gym patrons were spending an hour to an hour and a half parked in front of their shops.
Not all of those businesses have back entrances, he said.
He is not sure that the city will be able to reduce the parking times, Graybill said. “ODOT doesn’t want to change anything unless they can show it will be enforced.”
The Oregon Department of Transportation also tends to like those limits to be consistent throughout an area, Graybill said.
Graybill has a request at ODOT, he said. “It’s a work in progress. There’s no guarantees.”
Right now, parking is limited to two hours everywhere, he believes, except for a loading zone on 13th Avenue at Santiam Feed.
Graybill said the owners at Steelhead Gym and Fitness have been good at notifying their members to be considerate and park on side streets and parking lots.
“Although the proposal is something new to me, I completely understand how our members are taking up valuable parking spots,” said Steelhead owner Dave Bauer. “We do have a sign posted in the gym about being considerate to the shop owners along Main during business hours, but haven’t been as diligent in talking with people about it when they join. This is a good reminder for us to communicate with our members about parking.”
Whether or not ODOT approves the change, enforcement of time limits downtown isn’t likely to change much.
“It’s tough to be able to enforce it,” Graybill said. The police have to prioritize their calls.
“It would be a complaint-driven process,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “Even in that situation, we’re going to try to contact the registered owner and come up with some alternative rather than just citing.”
The department doesn’t have the personnel to dedicate to parking enforcement, Lynn said. That’s how the police have been handling parking.
Bikes and Skateboards
Graybill is trying to find the right stencil to paint the ramps at each intersection in the downtown area with warnings about riding bikes and skateboarding.
The city has an ordinance prohibiting riding bicycles on sidewalks, Graybill said, and skateboards also cause problems in front of downtown businesses, many of which have doors opening directly to the sidewalk.
Graybill said he has seen the negative effect of youths riding bikes or skateboards, and members of the Traffic Safety Committee have heard complaints from Main Street business owners.
Similar warnings are visible at intersections in Lebanon, Graybill said. He is looking for the right stencil to paint the warnings, hoping to send a positive message instead of a negative message.
Most say, “No bikes on sidewalks,” or something like that, he said. “The one I’m look at is more of a glass half full, like ‘Walk your bikes or pick up your boards.’”
The restriction is in place on Long and Main between 10th and 18th and on Nandina from Ninth to 15th.
It will include more than 40 locations, Graybill said. Some corners downtown have two ramps, with eight around the entire intersection.