AGENDA #3a(2)

From: Hugh Stevenson
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 2:04 PM
To: Kumar Neppalli; Woody Meadows; [email protected]; [email protected]; Manager
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Is this what it takes to get traffic calming? Bad accident yesterday at bad intersection (Churchill & Long Leaf)

To:

-Bill Strom, Mayor, Town of Chapel Hill

-Roger Stancil, Manager, Town of Chapel Hill

-Ralph Karpinos, Town Attorney, Town of Chapel Hill

-Bill Thorpe, Council Member, Town of Chapel Hill

-Kumar Neppalli, Traffic Engineer, Town of Chapel Hill

-Woody Meadows, Traffic Program Supervisor, Town of Chapel Hill

Copied:

-The Chapel Hill News

-Various members of the NWatch Group for Ridgefield Park, Briarcliff, Colony Woods and surrounding neighborhoods

-Various concerned neighbors of Ridgefield Park/Briarcliff

Dear Town of Chapel Hill,

I write to ask that the Town immediately begin traffic calming measures in Briarcliff/Ridgefield Park - without requiring a petition signed by 2/3 of property owners.

There was a bad accident yesterday (Sunday, Sept. 17) around noon at Churchill Dr and Long Leaf Dr.  In part because there is no four-way stop sign at the intersection, an 81-year-old man on a bicycle struck a car, was injured and knocked unconscious, and was taken away by rescue squad at the expense to the town and its taxpayers.

Regardless of who is at fault, the intersection is an infamously dangerous one and needs to be fixed ASAP - before someone else gets hurt or killed.  Residents have been telling the town this for a long time, but nothing has happened.  Now the risk is proven.

Please understand that our neighborhood's need for traffic calming does not stop at Churchill Dr.  Speeding in the neighborhood is legendary.  Churchill, Long Leaf and Willow are drag strips.  New home development near Creekside Elementary will only make matters worse, as drivers cut through Briarcliff/Ridgefield Park on their way to University Mall/south-bound Fordham Blvd.  Our neighborhood is full of children who walk & ride bicycles to & from Ephesus Elementary and Ridgefield Pool.  New sidewalks underway along Long Leaf will a great help, but don't address chronic & worsening automobile traffic problems.

I and others in Briarcliff/Ridgefield Park have been collecting signatures to petition the Town for traffic calming in Ridgefield Park/Briarcliff.  But the town requires signatures from 2/3 of property owners to consider traffic calming.  This overly high requirement has effectively defeated this petition.  The signature drive has stalled at perhaps 1/2 of property owners.  I believe the process was started more than a year ago - Kumar Neppalli can provide exact dates.  Please recognize that this bureaucratic impasse predicts more accidents.  We will continue to painstakingly collect signatures, but the clock is ticking.

I sincerely hope that a traffic calming petition signed by 2/3 of property owners is no longer necessary in light of yesterday's tragedy.  You don't need 2/3 of property owners to ratify a fact.

I also understand that strategic traffic calming cannot happen overnight.  Studies must be performed, etc.  So, in the interim, I petition the Town to immediately install four-way stop signs at (arguably) our worst intersections:

-Churchill and Long Leaf

-Long Leaf and Willow

Thank you very much for your attention to this urgent problem.

Sincerely,

Hugh Stevenson