City officials are putting considerable time into the idea of safe streets – and we’re glad to see that Fifth Street residents have come before the City Council to advocate for changes in the area.

“I have a concern from a resident who lives on Fifth Street, as you come off of Fairmount Street Bridge and come up over to come onto Fifth Street,” said Regina Brackman, D-Ward 3 and council president. “He’s just really saying that there seems to be a lot of accidents. He seems to be getting awakened in the middle of the night by police to see if he has camera footage.”

The area hasn’t been among the 10 problem areas with the most traffic incidents flagged each year by the Jamestown Police Department’s annual crime report, but we can’t disagree with the resident’s concerns. Traffic on both Fifth and Sixth streets often moves too fast for both pedestrians or cross-traffic trying to cross those streets. Visibility can also be a problem at some intersections when Fifth or Sixth street traffic is moving too fast.

At times, those walking in the area have to feel like they’re playing a real-life game of Frogger with the difficulty turned up to 11.

Part of the problem is speed, in our opinion, but part of the issue is also design. Fifth Street is complicated by the presence of Fairmount Avenue that leads to an awkward left turn off of Fifth Street and difficulty for those who are trying to turn onto Fifth Street as well. Sixth Street has a traffic light to calm traffic a little bit. Fifth Street does not. Add in cross street traffic and it is an area that many avoid if they can.

Fifth and Sixth streets were designed back in the day to be traffic movers to keep vehicles moving into and out of downtown Jamestown into neighborhoods. They have accomplished that goal for decades – perhaps too efficiently.

If we’re going to get serious about safe streets, then Fifth and Sixth streets should certainly be up for discussion, particularly in the area before the Sixth Street bridge. We don’t expect the solution to be easy or cheap, but it is an area worth tackling as part of a bigger project.