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.”
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.
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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