Public Services Committee, April 2025
Traffic Flow and Safety
Committee Members Present: Joy Bennett, chair; Ashley Chance; Scott Gibson
Update from Public Services Department
Clean-up and repairs from the storm on March 30 are going well. It was officially declared an EF0 tornado by the National Weather Service, and it tracked on the ground for 11 miles.
Traffic Flow Project
City staff reported on their conversation with the city school district. Leadership is ok with a project to address traffic flow, though they won’t lead messaging on it.
Discussed circulation changes, both for student drop off/pick up by parents and by buses, how that might change traffic flows on main streets. School buses make it all complicated.
Discussed increased safety of having another ingress/egress for emergency response. This might be one of the biggest benefits from the school perspective.
When considering layout or path of changed routes, the district’s preference is to preserve as much practice field space as possible, but it’s a mild preference - they are flexible.
The committee discussed design and intersection features to mitigate issues.
Engineers will ask design consultants to work on ways to discourage unwanted traffic patterns. (Traffic is like water - it always finds the path of least resistance. So the goal is to create resistance to encourage traffic flowing where we want it and away from where we don’t.)
We need to design first, before we know if we need to request a right-of-way change. Hopefully, the best option includes the existing right-of-way because there’s less process and procedure. Should we need to move the right-of-way, it will require the school board to take action.
Costs to move into design: $200,000 to 300,000. Preliminary estimate on the project is $3.2 million all-in, full “Mason” treatment (landscaping, lighting, sidewalks/bike path, etc.). Will need legislation to invest in design, and staff will work toward having this ready for June meeting. The actual design process will take a few months, and there’s no rush to complete it. In fact, it’s probably best to hold on to the next steps until the end of the year, after the election and the budget processes are completed.
Committee members agreed to move forward with this as our next step. Committee members also expressed concern about moving too fast and not adequately conveying the safety improvements this would make for the entire area.
Additional Discussion
Chair Bennett asked how the city manages traffic today. Staff explained that all intersections in the city have sensors to detect and adapt to traffic.
Note: April 14 council agenda includes legislation and details on this network and how it’s managed
Bennett asked about water/sewer lines downtown in light of the Downtown committee discussion on a parking lot project. Staff explained that the city maintains the “mains” and property owners maintain the “laterals,” which connect the mains to their individual buildings. City water and sewer lines are improved and/or replaced during other projects in the vicinity to avoid digging up roads multiple times.
