The Issue: Wilbur Drive Traffic Signal

Background Information & Outcome

The Legislation: Ordinance No. 13-03. An ordinance authorizing the Board of Control of the City of North Canton, through the Director of Administration, to advertise and receive bids according to specifications now on file in the office of the Director of Administration and the Mayor to enter into a contract for the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of North Main Street and Wilbur Drive NE and declaring the same to be an emergency.

The legislation originated as a request from the City Engineer and the approval of the Director of Administration to the Street & Alley Committee in a Legislative Request dated January 16, 2003. It was discussed by the Water, Sewer and Rubbish Committee and council and referred out of committee for legislation on January 21, 2003.

A report of the committee discussion appeared in a Canton Repository article published on January 22, 2003 and titled, “N. Canton discusses putting stoplight at Wilbur and N. Main.” The article states, “Mayor Tom Rice called the intersection ‘an extreme danger to residents of this city.’”

The Outcome: The legislation was first brought to council for a vote on January 27, 2003, and was to be passed on an emergency. Passage of legislation on an emergency requires six votes.

When this legislation came up for a vote on January 27, 2003, Council Member Marcia Kiesling advised the Chairperson of the Street & Alley Committee, Kathy Magel, that she would not vote to pass the legislation on emergency.

With only five of the required six votes needed to pass the legislation on an emergency on January 27, 2003, the legislation was tabled. Pages four through six of the minutes of that meeting describe the discussion leading to the tabling of the legislation. Further discussion on the light signal by a resident can be found on pages twenty through twenty-three.

The legislation was removed from the table at the next legislative council meeting and was read in three open council meetings (February 10, 2003, February 24, 2003 and March 10, 2003). The legislation required at least four votes at each reading for passage and received the needed votes in all three readings. The minutes of each of those council meetings details the discussions.

In the third and final reading of the legislation, all members present voted as follows:

Yes: McLaughlin, Snyder, Foltz, Lindower, and Magel
No: Osborne and Kiesling

The passage of the legislation was reported in the Canton Repository, on March 11, 2003, in an article titled, “N. Canton approves stoplight for N. Main-Wilbur”.

Soon after the passage of the legislation to appropriate $110,000 for a light signal at the intersection of North Main Street and Wilbur Drive, a city resident filed a citizen’s lawsuit to stop council action. The Canton Repository wrote a newspaper article on March 26, 2003, titled “City could be sued over decision to install stoplight.”

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My Position and Rationale:

My Position: I was opposed to the expenditure of $110,000 for a light signal at of North Main Street and Wilbur Drive

  • The intersection did not meet the requirements for any of eleven possible warrants as spelled out by the OHIO MANUAL OF UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES FOR STREETS AND HIGHWAYS.

Page 1-4 of the 1972 OMUTCD (OHIO MANUAL OF UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES FOR STREETS AND HIGHWAYS) states the following: “The standards of this Manual apply to all streets and highways regardless of type or the level of government agency having jurisdiction.”

The list of acceptable Traffic Signal Warrants can be found on pages 6-24 through 6-28 of the 1972 OMUTCD.

  • A letter from ODOT Design Engineer Lisa A. Janes (Ohio Department of Transportation), District 4, is critical of the methodology used to justify the Peak Hour Warrant.
     
  • 3. A letter from a Stark County Traffic Engineer Michael J. Rehfus is critical of the assumptions and calculations used to justify the Warrant for the traffic signal.
     
  • My extensive analysis of the accident history at the intersection of North Main Street and Wilbur Drive indicated to me that there was no  need for a traffic signal at this location.

This Accident Summary reveals that only seven of the 24 accidents reported over a three-year period at this intersection actually occurred at the Wilbur Drive intersection with North Main Street. The bulk of the accidents simply referenced this location for reporting purposes.

In the document titled “North Canton Accident History”, three years of accident history for the City of North Canton shows that accidents throughout the city are trending downward. In addition, accidents at streets intersecting Main Street account for 46% of all accidents in the city. Accidents in the City of North Canton are down 15.5% from 2000. Accidents at streets intersecting Main Street are down 17.5% from 2000.

Excessive delay may be caused. Even the best designed and operated signals usually increase delay when compared to unsignalized intersections. However, unnecessary delay is a common feature of an unwarranted or an improperly designed traffic signal. This unnecessary delay results in significant fuel waste and higher motorists costs.

Disobedience of the signal indications is encouraged. Delay at unwarranted or poorly designed traffic signals can breed gross disrespect toward signals as well as other traffic control devices.

The use of less adequate routes may be encouraged in an attempt to avoid such signals.

Accident frequency can be significantly increased at unwarranted signals or at locations where installation was not based on sound engineering. Accidents related to signal control usually develop during periods of comparatively low volume and result from rear-end collisions, and drivers either willfully or unintentionally running red lights.

  • My solution on the traffic situation in the area of Wilbur Drive and North Main Street involved a combination of actions that would improve traffic safety on North Main Street from Applegrove Street all the way to Orion Street. These included:

Interconnect the present traffic signals at Applegrove, ACME, and Orion in a closed loop system that will create gaps in the traffic to allow ingress and egress from driveways along North Main Street.

Implement an access management plan to reduce the number of driveways along North Main Street between Applegrove Street and Orion Street.

Add a middle turn lane on North Main Street between Applegrove Street and Orion Street.

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Research, Documentation, & Press Coverage

Correspondence:

bullet Letter from Stark County Engineer’s office (February 3, 2003)
bullet Letter from Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) (February 7, 2003)
bullet Letter from resident opposing light signal (February 19, 2003)

Research

bullet The bar charts captioned “North Main Street Accident History” and “South Main Street Accident History” graphically illustrate the number of accidents that have occurred at all streets intersecting with North and South Main Street.
bullet An analysis of all accidents occurring at the intersection of Wilbur Drive and North Main Street reveals details of each of the accidents that were reported in the vicinity of the North Main – Wilbur Drive intersection and indcates that the bulk of the accidents simply referenced this location for reporting purposes.
bullet This Accident Summary reveals that only seven of the 24 accidents reported over a three-year period at this intersection actually occurred at the Wilbur Drive intersection with North Main Street.

Press Coverage:

Canton Repository:

bullet N. Canton discusses putting stoplight at Wilbur and N. Main (January 22, 2003)
bullet N. Canton argues over vacating street (January 28, 2003)
bullet North Canton should systematically study traffic signals (February 11, 2003)
bullet Arrowhead neighbors oppose new houses (February 11, 2003)
bullet N. Canton gives green light to Wilbur Drive stoplight (February 25, 2003)
bullet N. Canton approves stoplight for N. Main-Wilbur (March 11, 2003)
bullet City could be sued over decision to install stoplight (March 26, 2003)

Akron Beacon Journal*
*
Archived  Akron Beacon Journal articles are available to view on the web for a fee of $2.95 per article.  Past Akron Beacon Journal editions can also be found at local public libraries.

bullet Traffic light urged for North Canton (January 23, 2003)
bullet Council approves new park restrooms (February 12, 2003)–
bullet N. Canton says signal necessary (March 12, 2003)

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