City Council Minutes 2020 08 11 SP

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City Council Meeting Minutes August 11, 2020 Page 4 of 6 He noted pedestrian fatalities are on the rise nationally; there are more distractions for drivers; and we all have more awareness about this. In Louisville, if there is room on a street we will put in a bike lane if possible. We have also added sharrows to note where cars should be watching for bikes. Since 2015, there has been a big focus in town on neighborhood traffic safety with many improvements in the last five years. He reviewed some of the major projects. He reviewed some of the challenges there are with traffic calming. He noted bicycles are vehicles and need to act as such on the road. Louisville does not have an excessive speeding problem but some people do speed. He added pedestrians also need to look out for themselves and take proper precautions. Director Kowar reviewed various factors that affect decisions including complaints, trail crossings, pedestrian volumes, bike lanes, road configuration, and others. He noted some cities are lowering speed limits for many streets. Our staff prioritizes bikes and pedestrians but we also need to keep vehicle safety in mind. He reviewed the average daily traffic numbers of collector streets and the current projects planned for 2020 upgrades. Councilmember Leh asked if making collector streets "no through traffic" is recommended. Director Kowar stated he wouldn't recommend it as collector streets are designed to take through traffic across the City. That would be a major policy and design change. Public Comments Mark Cathcart, 1763 Sweet Clover Lane, asked if given the pandemic is there a way for pedestrian signals to be triggered without having to push the button. Also, he noted that any help on East Hecla Drive would be appreciated as there is a lot of cut through traffic. Ryan Conrad, 253 South Madison, stated the Polk Dahlia corridor needs safe ways to walk through the neighborhood; especially crosswalks. We have more traffic than Main and Front Street per day and the road configuration gives inadequate site distances. There is a need to invest in this area of town with additional crosswalks. Sandy Neville, 2110 East Hecla, stated she has seen an increase volume over the years and the street design does not slow down traffic at the roundabouts. If traffic is slowed down that may keep people from cutting through. She asked for a traffic study on Hecla. Patricia Lucy 527 Front Street, asked for some speed mitigation on Front Street/County Road. The street gets lots of pedestrians and traffic is not adhering to the speed limit. We would like a refuge or crosswalk sign in the middle of the road to cue people they are still in a residential neighborhood. She asked why the street has no yellow line on the road.