Service Committee pursues data for Court Street

During the City Council Service Committee meeting on May 14, an Ordinance was introduced that would “re-stripe” the lanes on Court Street, reducing them from four lanes to three lanes - one in each north-south direction and a center lane for left-hand turns.

The re-striping would occur between Pleasant Street (on the north side of the city) all the way south on North and South Court Street to the Sheets Station. The project is about improving safety on Court Street.

As earlier reported, the public seating was filled and many citizens voiced their concerns, both in favor and against. When the Service Committee members allowed each concerned citizen at that meeting to talk freely with no time limit, and even allowed repeat visits to the podium, there was a better understanding of the issues at hand, pro and con.

When the Service Committee did not move forward on the Ordinance, an amiable attitude replaced the earlier anxiety knowing there would be no rush decision made.

Since that meeting, members of the City Council have been working with the administration to obtain better information about traffic flows Downtown. Here is the preliminary information presented at the May 14th Service Committee meeting:

Main Street and Court Street have a nearly equal total width, within inches.The manner in which Main Street is now striped can be considered a model for how Court Street would appear.The current lanes of Court Street are only 10 feet wide. The standards in Ohio are for lanes to be 12 feet wide. Court Street has been grandfathered in, so the decision on making the change is in the city’s hands.Regarding the volume of traffic, the Average Daily Count (ADC) of vehicles is 9,400 on Main Street and 8,700 on Court Street.However, the number of accidents in 2023 was higher on Court Street (64 accidents) versus Main Street (54 accidents).The rate of accidents on Court (0.74 per 100 ADC) was 30% higher than for Main Street (0.57 per 100 ADC).

The project is now in the “data gathering” mode. If you travel Downtown on South Court Street, you will see rubber wires stretched across the road as part of an actual traffic count. Data will be collected that gives the City information about traffic flow and also on accidents on a block-by-block basis, and the reasons why they happened.

There will be additional opportunities for the public to give their opinion on this project when the data is gathered and shared.