Council discusses Buffalo Street school traffic issues
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How to deal with recurring traffic issues in school zones on Buffalo Street are once again coming before the City Council.
The issue, which has been discussed a few times over the past couple of years by council members and the public, was brought before and discussed by both the council's Public Safety and Public Works Committee during their meeting on Monday, with a potential for the two committees to meet jointly to discuss potential solutions.
City resident Doug Champ first discussed the issue with the Public Safety Committee. Buffalo Street, Champ said, has two schools that are not neighbors but sit fairly close to one another.
"Buffalo Street is the street that I think has had a lot of issues over the years regarding safety for students going to and from school, and pedestrians and vehicles," Champ said. "Why is that the case? Well, we have a variety of speed limits associated with Buffalo Street."
Buffalo Street has a 20 mile per hour school zone space, followed by a 30 mile per hour zone and another school zone. The topography of the street, Champ noted, is different, with a hill and a sight line that does not tell people there is another school coming up. There are also parking issues on the street, either short or long term, that cause people to go into the other lane when a vehicle is parked in specific areas. Champ said he has also been on a campaign to get school warning lights to designate specific areas as a school zone and to give more warnings. Additionally, new paving on the street is also leading to more speeding drivers on the street as well, Champ said.
"I'm calling for more enforcement, more safety, better signage, removal of parking, and an alignment of the lanes going down Buffalo Street, which is not there now due to the parking that is there," Champ said.
City Council President Regina Brackman, D-Ward 3, noted that this issue is something that might need to go before the Public Works Committee as well, which Champ said he has talked to them before. Police Chief Scott Forster acknowledged Champ's concerns as valid, noting that the multiple speed limit changes can be confusing.
The Buffalo Street issue was brought up by the Public Works Committee as well during the full work session.
"We talked about some things we were looking at providing, different crosswalks or more crosswalks, lighting those up, and also we talked again about the possibility of lowering the speed limit throughout the entirety of the city to try and get the areas around the schools to actually have traffic moving slower for the safety of the children that are commuting to the schools," Councilman Daniel Gonzalez, D-At Large and chair of the Public Works Committee, said.
Both the public safety and public works committee are looking to hold a joint meeting between the two once schedules can be lined up to discuss the issue further.