Committee hopes step might slow traffic along the route
After a lengthy discussion between residents, business owners and alderman Monday night, Elkhorn’s Municipal Services and Utilities Committee voted in favor of looking into the possibility of putting bike lanes along North Lincoln Street.
The agenda item arose following last week’s public hearing to present findings of a Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission study of traffic patterns along the street.
Committee Chairman Gary Payson, Sr., said the one thing in the study that wasn’t apparent to him was the issue of pedestrian safety, especially considering the heavy traffic, both foot and vehicle, coming from the nearby schools.
“My concern is the safety of children and pedestrians that are going to try and cross that street,” Payson said. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if a child got hit and killed because we didn’t take a proactive approach in this Committee and this Council to put a controlled intersection there.”
Alderman James D’Alessandro, in attendance at Monday’s meeting, as well as last week’s public hearing, noted SEWRPC Chief Transportation Engineer Chris Hiebert had said a four-way stop at the intersection of North Lincoln Street and East First Avenue was not an option.
Elkhorn Police Chief Joel Christensen said according to City ordinances the City would have to make a determination whether or not a four-way stop would be warranted or not as a traffic control device at the intersection. According to Christensen, with only five accidents since 2011, a four-way stop sign wouldn’t be warranted.
North Lincoln Street resident Ed Robers noted previous stop signs at the intersection during the construction on Wisconsin Street and the negative impact they had for residents living adjacent.
“The cars just came in perfect sequence where you couldn’t get out, or sometimes get in if you had to cut across traffic,” he said. “It was a joke.”
Changing traffic patterns
Switching gears to concerns about traffic traveling down North Lincoln Street, Jeff Halpin, owner of Annie’s Burger Town, said that in looking at the options provided last week by SEWRPC as potential solutions, any one of them would kill business for him.
“If you can’t make a left-hand turn coming north onto Lincoln Street, how am I going to get a truck to deliver food to me,” he said.
Scott Simons said from his understanding, it’s not the trucks coming to their businesses that are causing problems on the road.
“We’ve seen the beer truck, neither one of us sell beer,” he said. “Our trucks all come off of Wisconsin Street, unload, and go right back north. They don’t even go south because they come off of Highway 12.”
Robers, who brought it up during last week’s public hearing, said all that needs to be done is more police enforcement of the posted speed limit.
City Administrator Sam Tapson said with Hiebert saying during last week’s meeting that 5 mph to 7 mph over the posted speed limit being the “threshold,” it’s simply not a reality.
“The police department would expend incredible energy going to court for people that you’re going to get tossed out, what is the point of that,” he said.
“I don’t mean to sort of drag it down and say that it doesn’t matter, but the fact seems to be both from the PD’s perspective and that of SEWRPC, that’s not an effective means at the posted speed limit.”
Mayor Brian Olson noted that Hiebert had said last week that the speed limit actually should be posted at 30 mph.
Resident Vicki Stern said if the posted speed limit were raised, people would still push the threshold.
“This way we’re only looking at 32 mph,” she said.
Olson said in terms of volume, since the road is used as an arterial road through the City, diverting traffic is not an option in his opinion. Looking at reducing speed, Olson said the options provided by SEWRPC would require reconstruction of the road, costing the City large amounts of money.
Resident Angela Hastings said having had six accidents occur in front of her Lincoln Street home, the idea to begin with was to create a safe zone for residents along the roadway.
“When you talk about safety, it’s not safe to park, it’s not safe to back out, it’s not safe to walk across the street from Sven’s old garage to my house unless I can clearly see a block in each distance because people come so quickly,” she said.
Tapson said in looking at the options provided by SEWRPC, closing the street off at the ends is not an option, and having asked staff to chime in on the idea of traffic diverters, neither are those.
“Not one, not the city engineer, fire, police, public works, everybody thinks that’s a bad idea,” he said. “You can’t get from here to there, it really cuts off emergency access.”
Tapson said the better choice amongst staff seemed to be something like bump-outs, a semi-diverter, or other options such as traffic cones and car park equipment that would generally improve things. With the idea of bike lanes having been brought up by Olson, Tapson noted the bike lanes on Wisconsin Street and how he feels it’s less conducive to high speeds.
“For me, the perception says to Sam, hey, I’ve got to be a little slower here,” he said. “To Jim’s point, it’s perception. Maybe the simplest start point is painting white lines, bike lanes, see if that does anything.”
According to Stern, Lincoln Street is 2-feet too narrow for bike lanes.
Payson said changing the speed limit isn’t an option and the City doesn’t have the borrowing capacity to do bump-outs at this time, however, noted if it’s something residents really wanted, it’s something the City could special assess for.
According to Public Works Manager Martin Nuss, putting a diverter in at the intersection of First Avenue is not a viable option either due to the amount of construction that would be needed.
“I don’t believe that the diagram on this process here shows what the total reconstruction of First and Lincoln would be,” he said.
With First Avenue already being in a state of disrepair as it sits now, Nuss said it couldn’t handle the additional traffic. Payson said this would also send more traffic down towards the middle school, creating more danger for pedestrians.
Alderman Hoss Rehberg made a motion to look into the possibility of bike lanes as a potential solution. Alderman Gregory Huss seconded the motion.
“If the street is wide enough and we can put bike lanes on both sides, I think we send that to the council and get bike lanes painted on and see what it does to solve the problems,” he said.
Despite it eliminating on street parking for residents, Robers and Stern said it’s something they would be okay with.
Christensen noted from the department’s studies, bike lanes haven’t affected speeds along North Wisconsin Street by much, if at all.
“It may affect some drivers, some motorists, but the vast majority, I don’t think you’re going to see a significant change,” he said.
“I’m just saying, I’m willing to do something,” Rehberg said.
The committee voted unanimously in favor of looking into the possibility of painting bike lanes onto North Lincoln Street.
