Enough Chicanery – Citizens Tell City to Straighten Out North Ave.

The business owners and residents of East Tosa have spoken, eloquently, sometimes humorously, and in large numbers – "Lose the chicanes," they said.

At double hearings Tuesday night, first a presentation to the general public, immediately followed by a city committee meeting, packed houses almost to a person favored an option for realigning traffic lanes on North Avenue as a much-straightened urban pathway.

Ken Voight, a traffic engineer and analyst with Ayres Associates, hired to study the avenue, came up with three alternatives for citizens to consider, all of which included new bike lanes and two of which retained some form of the "chicane effect."

Nearly everyone liked the other choice.

Option No. 2, also known as the "No left turn lanes" option, got not only the approval of the public but a preliminary nod from the Traffic and Safety Committee of the Common Council.

The members voted unanimously to have the city's engineering staff "explore" only Option 2 for further action in April – likely for adoption then, if the work is to get done this year.

Option 2 is intended to "tame" traffic in ways other than by making it slalom through the district past "bump-outs" of the curbing and around left turn lanes at every other corner.

Option 2 should slow traffic despite the straightaway it offers, Voigt said, because it provides for narrower traffic lanes flanked by a clearly marked, bright green bicycle lanes. In his experience, Voigt said, the psychological effect alone should moderate the behavior of a majority of drivers.

Business people along the avenue, and those who live nearby and shop there, want a more walkable and bikeable district – hence the demand, taken from the North Avenue Plan for revitalization, that all options for revising the streetscape include bike lanes and measures for pedestrian safety.

However, with a bow to motorists, many pointed out that the greatest detraction of Options 1 and 3 was not the retention of winding lanes so much as the loss of parking spaces.

There are 193 street spaces along the 16 blocks from 60th to 76th streets. Option one would reduce that to 146, a loss of 47 spaces. Option 3 would take the number of slots all the way down to 122, a loss of 71 spaces.

Option 2, on the other hand, adds nine more spaces, for a total of 202 on the avenue.

There was some interest, particularly from Ald. Pete Donegan, in putting four-way stop signs at 64th and 72nd streets for added pedestrian safety, but Voigt played down the safety effect of such stops and warned of massive traffic backups.

Voigt said that pedestrians could count on gaps in flowing traffic to get across intersections, but at four-way stops, cars would be advancing in one direction or another every few seconds, distracted by keeping their place, turning, and possibly not on the lookout for walkers.

Based on his modeling, he said, adding the stops could cause traffic backups of from 575 to 700 feet. And, he said, motorists subjected to those waits have a tendency to speed after they get past the bottlenect to make up lost time.

Among the business owners present and advocating for Option 2 were:

• Melanie Landgraf, Tosa Yoga
• Kristyn St. Denis, BelAir Cantina
• Susie Brkich, Cranky Al's
• Robyn Vining, Ticklebugs Photography
• Martin Boudoin, Sherbrook
• Jess Brittingham, U-Turn
• Peter Topolovich, North Avenue Grill