HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2012_06_14BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
City Hall Meeting Room
Thursday, June 14, 2012
12:10 p.m.
The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, June 14,
2012, at 12:10pm in the City Hall meeting Room.
Members Present: Daryl Englund, Skip Webster, Carol Rettkowski, Louis Skubic, Jackie
Lanning, Jeff Miller, Pete Kirchhevel, John Howard and Tony Sonnenburg.
Members Absent: Gary Gramm, Tim Heaton, Brian Lueders and Mike Fossum.
Others Present: Greg Jorgenson.
Call to Order: Englund called the meeting to order. Webster / Lanning moved to approve the
minutes from the May meeting. All present voted aye.
Addition to Agenda: Discuss the intersection of circle drive and Harvey Dunn changing
from a stop sign to a yield sign.
Old Business:
Discussion of possible 4-way stop signs at 5th Avenue and 3rd Street
Sonnenburg went over the accident data from the last 3 years which was the following: 2010
– 4, 2011 – 3, 2012 – 1. He is not sure what type of accidents they were but he could take a
closer look at them. Lanning stated with the intersection being so wide vehicles may have
trouble seeing the stop signs. Miller thought the temporary stop signs that were installed
during the Streetscape Project made getting onto 3rd Street from 5th Avenue much easier and
thinks with the increased traffic it would be a good idea. Kirchhevel asked if having the 4-way
stop there affected emergency vehicles. Miller said not at all. Lanning stated when this topic
was discussed in the past, someone stated 3rd Street is an emergency route and should not
have the stop signs. Miller said this intersection is no different than driving through 3rd Street
and Medary Avenue. He thinks the biggest issue would be the transition when the signs are
installed. Lanning stated the city is budgeting for bump outs at this intersection in the next
couple of years. Englund asked if we should wait until the bump outs are in place before we
add stop signs. Lanning would like to look at the accidents and study them and see if they
meet the warrants to show some good solid data that the signs would be warranted. Visibility
should not be a big issue in this area but there might be speed related issues. Sonnenburg
asked if they could get a better date as to when the bump outs are going to be installed.
Lanning will check on that. Rettkowski would like to see the stop signs up before we have
more accidents because of the heavier traffic. Englund asked if you would like to take action
at this meeting or wait and see what the detailed reports. Rettkowski stated she would like to
see them in place now. Rettkowski/Kirchhevel made the motion to install stop signs at
the intersection of 5th Avenue and 3rd Street. 5 ayes and 3 no’s. Lanning would like to
perform a study first before she would approve it since she didn’t feel comfortable with
installing the signs without knowing if the intersection meets the warrants. She said it
may be warranted but she would want to do the study first. Englund and Sonnenburg
also voted no. Miller said in the mean time we will get the accident information to
Lanning.
Discussion of possible removal of parking on the north side of 3rd Street between 5th Avenue
and 6th Avenue Lanning stated we have had discussions about this at past meetings and she
has noticed that the indented parking stalls in front of the City & County Government Center
are short and bumpers of longer vehicles protrude into 3rd Street. Sonnenburg stated his
police truck bumper also hangs over the sidewalk. Lanning stated if a person is parked in the
indented stalls, they may back into the west bound traffic lane. The committee discussed
leaving the parking as is for now. Miller thinks we will have a better idea about parking and
traffic when the workers are done and everyone is fully moved in. Englund would like to table
until the next meeting.
New Business:
Discussion of possible removal of parking on 6th Avenue between 2nd Street and 3rd Street.
Englund stated there is currently no parking on the east side of 6th Avenue so the discussion
would be to remove parking from the west side of the street. Webster stated he drove by and
didn’t know how many vehicles were construction vehicles. Lanning agreed with Webster on
many of the vehicles being construction workers. The group decided it may be too soon to
make a decision as well since construction was not complete yet. Lanning stated there
should be enough room for vehicles since it was a 30 foot street with the parking on the west.
The committee agreed to monitor this area.
Discuss the intersection of circle drive and Harvey Dunn changing from a stop sign to a yield
sign. Webster stated a citizen approached him about this intersection and would like the stop
sign to be replaced with a yield sign because there was not that much traffic in this area.
Several years ago the City put the stop sign in because some neighbors requested the TSC
study the issue. Lanning stated she remembers visibility was bad at that intersection around
one of the radii. Englund made the comment motorists many times use a stop sign like a yield
sign and do not come to a full stop. Lanning stated we could look up those minutes for our
next meeting and review it. Webster would like to look at the minutes from that meeting and
see if that problem still exists today.
Member Reports:
Discussion on 9th Avenue and 1st Street next month.
The next meeting will be July 12th, 2012. Meeting adjourned.
Submitted by: Chris Larson