Pedestrian Safety Board

Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Meeting Minutes Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 4:30 – 5:30 PM July 10, 2017 The Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board’s mission is to promote a walkable environment throughout the City by developing safe, attractive, and accessible walkways that connect neighborhoods and destinations. 4:30 pm Call meeting to order I. Introductions: Members (Quorum: No): Matt Cross, Stan Cohen, Jessica Bladow, Bill Reger-Nash, and Jimmie Simmons Ex-officio: Lt. Matt McCabe, Bill Austin, Ella Belling, Jenny Selin, Bill Kawecki, Frank Gmeindl, and Drew Gatlin Guest: Fred Shoukry, William Blosser, Janet Fraser, Penny Kostka, and Pat Hutchens Absent: Christiaan Abildso, Gypsie Denzine, Dwight Harshbarger, Maria Smith, Kim Hartsell, Damien Davis, George Lilley, Daniel Shook, Jan Derry, Jen MacDonald, and Amy Boggs II. Approval of June 12, 2017 Minutes. Motion by Jimmie Simmons second by Stan Cohen Passed by (unanimous voice vote). III. Officer’s Reports • Jessica – shared billboard idea that she saw in New York City which said: “If you’re stuck in traffic; technically you’re part of the problem; #ditchthedrive” • Matt – spoke about a plan to widen North Street for the addition of a sidewalk on one side IV. Action Item Follow-up • Jimmie Simmons – walking routes in Wiles Hill – Not Discussed V. New Business • Pat Hutchins – a local citizen who lived in Morgantown, moved to California for a few years, and has just recently moved back to Morgantown. She mentioned how she noticed that pedestrians have the true right of way in California, which is not so in Morgantown – which she noticed upon moving back. In particular, there’s a big issue with safety at the intersection of University, Pleasant Street, and the Westover Bridge near the Wings Ole downtown. At this intersection, vehicles at the bridge have a green light, but the pedestrian crossing signal is on at the same time (which is a concurrent crossing). She asked if we might have ideas about how to educate Morgantown drivers that the pedestrians have the right-of- way and the vehicles must yield to them.  o It was mentioned that there’s a similar safety issue right outside the Public Safety Building at Walnut and Spruce. However this intersection uses an exclusive crossing signal, not concurrent. • Fred Shoukry, a WV DOH (West Virginia Department of Highways) District 4 Traffic Engineer, provided input and answers to the board’s various questions and comments: o He mentioned that the DOH has a few projects downtown to make some pedestrian signals exclusive. However, he did mention that there are some intersections downtown that cannot have exclusive crossings due to large vehicle volumes. o In regards to the intersection that Pat mentioned at Wings Ole, he said that there is no good location for the yield to pedestrians sign because it can’t go in the sidewalk and there is not any availability to put it on the overhead light poles. He said that he could place a temporary message board in this area as an educational outreach for a few weeks though. ▪ Janet asked if Fred could use a leading pedestrian signal since he can’t make the crossing exclusive. ▪ Jimmie said that a further complication to the intersection at Wings Ole is that the Mountain Line buses let people off there, which increases the pedestrians who cross at that light. She asked if there was a potential to add a safer crossing near this area for the pedestrians. It was mentioned that the crossing adjacent to the Decker’s Creek Trail is a safe crossing. • Jenny responded saying that the crossing at the Decker’s Creek Trail is too far away for people at the Wings Ole who simply want to go downtown. ▪ Jenny also mentioned that it the crossing in this area is a key connector between the waterfront area and downtown. ▪ Jenny asked about if lights could be added in the crosswalk. Fred said that WV doesn’t use that technology. Jenny responded saying that she’s seen crosswalks with lights in them in Shepherdstown, WV. ▪ Matt asked about the potential of adding LEDs along with Pedestrian walking signal to get the driver’s attention. ▪ Matt noted the importance of including education along with design, and then asked if there was any way the intersections could be labeled with signage one way or the other with regards to concurrent or exclusive crossing signals. Fred said that this would involve too many additional signs and was not realistic at this time. ▪ Fred mentioned that police enforcement at this intersection might be a viable option. Lt. Matt McCabe responded saying that the police are not able to enforce in this area because there is no place for them to park their cars and they don’t want to block sidewalk. Jenny then asked if they could enforce the intersection using two officers (one on the sidewalk to watch and another to pull the cars over). ▪ Bill Reger-Nash asked about the potential of eliminating the right arrow so that cars don’t assume it’s their right of way and Pat said that this intersection actually doesn’t have exclusive right; it’s just a green light. ▪ Frank then asked Fred if he could add a no right on red sign at this intersection near Westover Bridge. He provided some background information about how there have been a lot of bicycle crashes here. ▪ Pat said that there is a telephone pole where a yield to pedestrians sign could be added. ▪ Janet then said that the leading pedestrian signal is 3 seconds long and has been found to be very successful in many other areas, including State College, PA which is another college town. Fred said that he would mention this option to the consultants who will be reviewing this intersection. It was then clarified that the 3 second lead-in time should only be activated if a pedestrian pushes the button. ▪ Jenny then asked if it would be feasible to add any form of blinking to this intersection. Fred said that blinking is not a viable alternative because if you put it in one place, then everyone will want the DOH to add the blinking to their roads too which would not be affordable. ▪ Jimmie made a point that Morgantown is not comparable to other West Virginia cities. She said that Morgantown is home to the state university, and as such has the responsibility to protect the young people and the children of the state who come to WVU. She emphasized that it is of utmost importance to make it safe for the young students who come here to study. She finished saying that if something is requested for safety in Morgantown, then it shouldn’t have to be replicated in other areas of the state because Morgantown is not comparable to other areas in the state. ▪ Jenny then asked if he could put a cone in the center lane saying yield to pedestrians. Fred said that is an acceptable alternative; however, it would not work in this particular intersection because there is heavy truck traffic. ▪ Matt observed that people will yield on High Street for pedestrians, but not in this intersection. ▪ Jenny had another idea about potentially adding flags at the crossing for pedestrians. Fred said the Pedestrian Safety Board is welcome to add these flags, but cautioned that they might get stolen once the students return to town. ▪ Fred said that he would try to add another sign at this intersection and would add message board for a few weeks. He requested that we monitor this intersection and report our feedback to him. o Fred further mentioned that there is a project to analyze the intersections between Pleasant Street and High Street and a consultant for the project has already been selected. o Stan Cohen asked why so many walk boxes (actuation buttons) don’t work. He says the ones on High Street are the worst; they seem to get fixed and are then broken only a few weeks later again. ▪ Fred said that if the failed actuation buttons aren’t reported to the DOH, then they don’t fix them. • How to report these? Call: 304-842-1500 • Fred says that there is an online form you can use as well. ▪ Stan followed-up and asked if there could be a better practice implemented to ensure that the walk signals keep working. Fred said that the DOH as well as the City of Morgantown are very limited in their resources. ▪ Matt said that as citizens we should put in a better effort to reach out to the DOH and report when things aren’t working. ▪ Drew suggested that the Pedestrian Safety Board could assign volunteers to different areas to monitor the actuation buttons and then we could combine any issues into one report and give it to the DOH. o Janet mentioned that she noticed that there is no ADA ramp on SR 705 near Chestnut ridge road. She said that there is an ADA ramp on the north side, but not south side. She mentioned that she observed a person in a wheelchair stuck in the road because she couldn’t get back on cross walk. ▪ Fred responded saying that the WV DOH maintains the road from the face of the curb to the face of the curb. So, if there is new paving, then they can do the ADA ramps; however, otherwise, the sidewalk is not the DOH’s responsibility; it’s the City’s. o Stah Cohen said that he doesn’t understand why highway routes come through city centers and don’t have to abide by different rules within the city limits, which is obviously a different environment than a typical highway thoroughfare. He then asked if there was a way to make different rules for highways that run through these metropolitan areas. He emphasized that a crosswalk makes sense where you have pedestrians (where it wouldn’t make sense on I79 – a major highway). He asked how we could work with the DOH to build safe crosswalks in our city, despite the large traffic volumes on the DOH owned highway routes. ▪ Fred said that he recognized that there is an issue with trucks driving through downtown Morgantown. He stated that he does not have control over this and said that it would need to be resolved by the Secretary of Transportation and the Monongalia County Commissioner. o Fred said that he has respect for the citizens and students here in Morgantown. He then said that once you put crosswalk in new location, no one will notice. He referenced a report and claimed that it is safer for the pedestrian to look for gaps in traffic and cross than to add a crosswalk.  ▪ Stan asked where the data for this claim is because he doesn’t believe that this is always the case. ▪ Jenny said that she went to a pro bike/pedestrian conference in Pittsburgh and met the person responsible for the report that Fred referenced who stated that he thinks the WV DOH has misunderstood the findings in his report. She further mentioned that she gets nasty looks for jay walking in areas with no crosswalk, which is what Fred offered as a solution. ▪ Fred says he is only able to install crosswalks at controlled intersections. He further mentioned that students don’t always look when they cross the street, and distracted pedestrians can be just as unsafe as distracted drivers. ▪ Fred then offered to add yield to pedestrian signs at intersections where we have big issues and asked us to specifically bring such requests to him. o Penny followed-up and said that educational outreach in August/September will make a big difference because of the diversity of past driving experience from new students. She then mentioned that visuals are key to catching driver’s attention and brought up the flashing pedestrian signal at University town center as an example. • Matt Cross mentioned that Kids’ Day is downtown this Saturday July 15th Not Discussed: • WVU Fall Semester outreach to students • Potential intern for the Pedestrian Safety Board from Public Health (curtesy of Christiaan and Bobbi Sykes, the internship coordinator). • Comprehensive planning with the Bike Board/Mainstreet Morgantown/ Green Team • Create SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound) goal team for bringing a consultant into Morgantown VI. Old Business – Not Discussed • Sidewalk improvement incentive still available? • Prioritize sidewalks for the 2018 paving plan. The City intends to give a one year compliance period for code enforcement. o Walkways in Wiles Hill VII. Reports • Mountain Line Maria Smith: absent • WVU Kim Hartsell: absent • Rail Trail Ella Belling: She said that they just received the recreational use license for the Collins Ferry Road Trail Link from the DOE (Department of Energy) which they needed to move forward on the agreement for engineering design. She also said that the DOH granted approval for the engineering agreement as well; so, now they can let it out for engineering design. She then  mentioned that they are still working on adding connections to the trails in the downtown area. • MPO Bill Austin: didn’t have time to provide a report • City Engineer Damien Davis: absent • City Council: Matt will ask for a volunteer at the meeting for the Committee of the whole, which is the last Tuesday of the month. • Police Lt. McCabe: didn’t have time to provide a report • Traffic Commission Matt Cross: didn’t have time to provide a report Next meeting: August 14, 2017, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm.