AGENDA #5a
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Response to a Petition Regarding Safety Issues on South Estes Drive at its Intersection with Fordham Boulevard
DATE: April 5, 2005
The following status report is in response to a petition from the residents of South Estes Drive Public Housing Community requesting several improvements to the intersection of South Estes Drive and Fordham Boulevard. An intersection map is presented in Attachment #1.
At its February 28, 2005 meeting, the Council received and referred a petition from the residents of South Estes Drive Public Housing Community. The residents requested several of the following actions to improve the safety of pedestrians walking across Fordham Boulevard at Estes Drive intersection:
· Install “yield to pedestrians” sign on eastbound approach of South Estes Drive
· Repair the street light located in the northeast corner of the intersection
· Change the traffic signal phasing on westbound approach from permissive to protected for left-turning vehicles (green ball to green arrow)
A copy of the petition is provided in Attachment #2.
Yield to pedestrian sign on eastbound approach: In order to remind drivers who are making turns to yield to pedestrians, especially at intersections where the pedestrian phase is allowed during the left-turn phase and pedestrian crosswalks are marked, a “Turning Traffic Must Yield to Pedestrians” sign may be used as recommended by Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The Town staff installed the MUTCD recommended sign during the week of March 7. Our field observation indicates that the size of the letters on the installed sign is difficult to read due to the width of the intersection and we are in the process of replacing the sign with bigger letter size.
Repair the street light: Town staff found that the street light located in the northeast corner of the intersection needed to be repaired. It was repaired by Duke Power Company during the week of March 14.
Change the traffic signal phasing on westbound approach: Under the existing conditions, signal phasing allows a green indication to vehicles on both approaches of South Estes Drive while the pedestrian phase is activated across Fordham Boulevard. Our field observation indicates that several vehicles turning left from South Estes Drive heading towards Durham are not consistently yielding to the pedestrians in the crosswalk.
The traffic signal at the intersection of Fordham Boulevard and South Estes Drive is owned by the State, and any changes in the traffic signal phasing would require State approval. The State informed us that they are in the process of conducting an investigation of the Town’s request from last year asking signal phasing changes to several intersections on Fordham Boulevard, including the traffic signals located at Estes Drive and Willow Drive. The original request by the Town for signal phasing changes was made in January 2004. We hope to receive their response within the next two months, at which time we will provide a follow-up report to the Council. We expect to report back to the Council in June 2005.
2. Copy of the Petition (p. 4).
