Traffic Commission

The City of Morgantown 389 Spruce Street Morgantown, West Virginia 26505 (304) 284-7412 Fax: (304) 284-7409 www.morgantownwv.gov Traffic Commission September 9, 2020 Traffic Commission Minutes Matt Cross – Introduction Role Call – Matt Cross Frances Brownfield Saba Ashfaq Martin Dombrowski William Blosser Dave Harshbarger Chip Wamsley Public Comment – None Bike Board – Chip Walmsley Bicycle Board is trying to get together maybe next month and start talking more about some of the plans for re-upping bike friendly status, some other routes that we can do for some of the neighborhood trails that might be more bikeable, a little bit longer ones, but that's where they are at right now. Pedestrian Board – Matt Cross At our last meeting, we just spoke about some of the soft closures, the Morgantown Healthy Streets program. I've not heard any feedback about the one over here in Suncrest on Western Avenue yet. We're continuing to look at that and consider the ongoing rollout of the Ped/Bike, Alta plan within the city. Engineering Reports – Drew Gatlin Prioritizing Crosswalk installation – Drew Gatlin reviewed the spreadsheet that was sent out to the Traffic Commissioners. This spreadsheet showed what suggested improvements from Alta were on City maintained routes and which ones were on State maintained routes. Discussion ensued. Multiple intersections were discussed along with the RRFB locations (Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon). Discussion ensued. Dave Harshbarger moved to prioritize 14 of the crosswalks and move forward with installations. Motion passed unanimously. Morgantown Healthy Streets update/initial findings – Drew stated that there was decent amount of feedback concerning the project. Most of the feedback was positive, there were a lot of questions. The most common question is “what constitutes local traffic?”. Local traffic is defined as residents who live on the street in the stretch of the treatments, and anyone who is servicing or accessing a building on that street. The purpose of this project is to reduce motor vehicle traffic drastically on these streets. Mr. Blosser stated that shutting one street down as a cut through is just moving a problem around because the drivers will just find another street to use as a cut through. Discussion ensued. Drew Gatlin reviewed both the visual and traffic counter observational studies performed by him. Drew Gatlin informed the Commissioners that there have been several requests for other streets to be converted to Healthy Streets. Discussion ensued. NEW BUSINESS Morgantown Healthy Streets – Citizens Requests Carlisle Ave – Not enough information at this time. Small discussion of possibly rolling out this street. No decisions were made. Demain/Morris/Watts – Mini Neighborhood - Not enough information at this time. Small discussion of possibly rolling out this street. No decisions were made. Sidewalk-related ordinance changes, request by City Council – Drew Gatlin described the changes to the Ordinance Articles 909 and 913, the Sidewalk Ordinance and the Street Design Ordinance. Where we would be establishing a cost sharing program with citizens and then to simplify the code and allow more direct changes to that code based on professional engineering judgment. Also, the other thing that we were hoping to do with these changes was to reduce the confusion that occurs with the planning and zoning code and how each and every separate district has different requirements for development. Discussion ensued. Commissioners to review the changes and bring their comments to City Council Meeting. MHS & surrounding area traffic complaints – Drew Gatlin spoke about a meeting that was between the Board of Education and a couple of City Councilors. At this meeting there were discussions about traffic around MHS, and nearby elementary school and the drop off and pick up procedures, how the congestion making things unsafe or making things feel unsafe. Discussion to resume at next meeting. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Saba Ashfaq – I wasn’t on the email list for rescheduling this meeting and Danielle Trumble was not on those emails either. I was very excited about the Healthy Streets Project; I really like the work you are doing. Martin Dombrowski – Thank you to everyone who worked on this meeting. The residents were happy who live on Western Avenue. I saw they have equipment to begin working on the bridge. Drew, can you give us an update on the Killarney Bridge? Drew Gatlin – I don’t have any new information to give you. Martin Dombrowski – What is going on near the school, near Baldwin Street? Drew Gatlin - As far as I'm aware, the state is still moving forward with the roundabout. However, they're still working on right away acquisition, but they needed to upgrade the stormwater. Anyway. And right now, all of the work that's being done on University and Baldwin in preparation to upgrade the storm system to accept potential roundabout. William Blosser moved to adjourn the meeting. Dave Harshbarger seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 9:02pm