March 22nd Bloomington Traffic Commission Meeting
By Young Na
Location: City Hall Room 115 & Virtual Zoom Meeting
Attendance Size: 19
Main Attendees
- Council Chambers
- Benjamin Burns, Bloomington PD
- Daniela Moloci, IU Student Government Director of Academic Affairs
Overall Point of the Meeting
- Election of Chair and Vice Chair
- Reevaluation of the 7-Line Project and reinstalling all-way stop signs on 7th street and Dunn
Handout: Packet (March 23 Packet, Date is mislabeled since the meeting took on March 22nd)
Meeting Overview
March 22nd’s Traffic Commission meeting began with reelecting the Chair and Vice Chair of the commission, followed by expressing the disappointment of Bloomington city engineering department’s approval of miss designing a park bike pathway next to powerline which now resulted in having several electricity poles in the middle of the path as the figure 1 shows.
Figure 1: Utility poles blocking the pathway
Then the traffic commission members began focusing on addressing the concern related to the rising crash rate on 7th street after the completion of the “7-line project,” in which Bloomington city installed a two-way protective bike lane on 7th street. As figure 2 shows, when the city engineering department designed the 7-line project, part of the project included removing all the all-way stop signs on 7th street, which turned all the south and northbound roads that intersect the 7th street into 2-way stop signs (Cars on 7th street do not stop, only cars crossing 7th street have a stop sign).
Figure 2: Removal of all-way stop signs on 7th street
The biggest reason behind converting all-way stop signs into two-way stop signs is so the cyclists on 7th street can maintain their momentum to ride through the intersection on 7th street, enhancing the overall rideability of bikes on 7th street. While 7 line project successfully raised the annual average bike traffic count on 7th street by 25 percent compared to before the project initiation, the project also negatively affected to rise in reported corridor total crashes due to the removal of all-way stop signs. Unfortunately, the vehicle accident rate was not the only number that was negatively affected by the removal of the all-way stop signs. The two-way stop signs also impacted pedestrians who tried to cross 7th street, making it more challenging to cross the road due to cars not stopping at each intersection.
Currently, two significant factors impact the increase in reported corridor total crashes on 7th street. The removal of five all-way stop signs and drivers going over 25 miles per hour speed limit is believed to be the leading cause of the rising crash rate on 7th street. Therefore, one member of the traffic commission recommended lowering the speed limit from 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour. However, both the engineer of the city and the Bloomington police officer who is part of the traffic commission disagreed that reducing the seep limit is not the key to lowering the crash rate on the 7th. It is true that crashes occurring on 7th street are because of drivers failing to yield but lowering the speed limit would not force drivers to yield or slow down on the street.
Therefore, the traffic commission’s first motion was whether to reinstate five all-way stop signs back to 7th street. The result was two to four, and the first motion was denied. Then the comity moved on to the second motion, which was reinstalling the all-way stop sign only on the 7th and Dunn. The result was “Yes,” and the meeting was adjourned for the night.
How Smart City Technology can Help us?
Smart Stop Sign
The “Smart Stop Sign” is a multi-pixel passive infrared sensor that detects an oncoming car and illuminates the stop sign, which gives better sign visibility to drivers approaching the intersection (Mohn, 2019). One of the biggest issues on 7th street with cars not yielding to cross traffic car is missing the “Cross traffic does not stop” sign. By installing a highly viable sign that illuminates whenever there is an oncoming car gives a higher chance for a driver to yield to cross traffic.
Speed Reduction Mechanisms
The best way to reduce accidents is to slow down. Speed Reduction Mechanisms such as installing Pinchpoint (Figure 3) or Chicane (Figure 4) psychologically slow drivers down on the road (NACTO, n.d). Even the speed reduction mechanisms are not technically smart city technology, it impacts diver’s psychology, which is an efficient tool to slow drivers down on the street.
Figure 3: Pinchpoint (Retrieved from NACTO.org)
Figure 4: Chicane (Retrieved from NACTO.org)
My Thoughts
Ever since Bloomington installed a two-way protective bike lane and removed five all-way stop signs, I have been encountering many incidents that almost resulted in a car accident, mainly due to cars crossing the 7th street intersection thinking that it was an all-way stop. As I spent many years in Bloomington, I rarely use a map to drive around the city, and anyone who spent a few years in town would also know that 7th street has always been all-way stops. Therefore, I can imagine that for drivers who have lived long enough here, it is easy to pay less attention to the text underneath the stop sign, where it indicates “Cross traffic does not stop.” The current rise in accidents rate on 7th street shows how putting more text on the street is not a key solution to address the safety issue. I wish that the city engineers anticipated this common flaw when they first planned for the “7-Line Project.” From my perspective, the key takeaway of their decision to bring back the all-way stop signs on the 7th and Dunn is how spreading awareness of the new road condition and changes is essential. Unfortunately, after seeing Bloomington’s development for almost ten years, I have noticed more text-oriented street signs being used on Bloomington roads, which shows how streets are poorly developing. I believe that if the streets are designed and maintained thoughtfully, we would not need this much text on the street of Bloomington explaining all kinds of traffic laws and warnings.
So, how can Bloomington implement new technology to become a safer, more efficient city for all of us?
Figure 5: Proof of Zoom meeting attendance (Young Na on top row)
References
Mohn, T. (2019, April 11). Solar Powered ‘Smart Stop Sign’ Developed To Curb Rural Traffic Crashes. Forbes. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2019/03/30/solar-powered-smart-stop-sign-developed-to-curb-rural-traffic-crashes/?sh=13e0ec171dfc
National Association of City Transportation Officials. (n.d.). Urban Street Design Guide. National Association of City Transportation Officials. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/design-controls/design-speed/speed-reduction-mechanisms/
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