Agenda - Public Works Committee - 04/18/2017

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All, I have lived on the corner of 158th and Varolite for 25+ years, have seen many changes over the years. I walk the sounding area 4-5 times/week all year and have seen more frequent concerns these past few years. I feel the speed should be looked at on Varolite between at least 163rd and Alpine. The following is some observations in no particular order: 1. We have a hill at 161st (the road that goes to central park), that makes for poor site lines. 2. The new development to the east of Varolite between 158th and 163rd is getting built out fairly fast now making for more trips. 3. I see a fair amount of people crossing at 161st by foot/bike going to/from the park, this is where I have seen enough close calls, another one this weekend that made me want to finally write you. 4. We have a walking path that's on the road, it goes between a turn lane and Varolite at 159th. If you have not walked it yet, do yourself a favor and walk down the path when you have cars going 50-60mph on one side of you and cars on the other side of you in a turn lane as they enter going 50mph. I'm going to be honest here, I don't use that section of trail, I walk in the turn lane, at least I have an out to the ditch + it gives me some distance from the faster cars on Varolite, lessor of all evils I guess. It would appear most walkers feel the same about that section. 5. From what I can tell the new development has fair number of young families, if the current trend keeps going I can see a lot of young soccer/foot ball/baseball players making way to Central Park by foot being its so close. I hope that's case anyway. 6. It appears the Brookfield Development next addition is heading to the West, I'm going to guess many of those folks will be using Varolite. 7. If that trail/boardwalk gets done by Troutbrook that's going to put more people on the shoulders. I'm looking at you park board lets get this done, even if we don't get the grant:) 8. Deer vs car, not sure if this is a plus or minus. Its seems to be working well keeping the deer population down with the faster speeds. 9. Another kind of odd deal is the speed on Alpine is slower in the area compared to Varolite. I'm not a traffic engineer but the number of homes, access points and generally the number of people I see on foot near and around the park is much higher than Alpine. 10. Varolite is a retaliative short section of roadway at 2.25 miles. If we dropped the speed between Alpine and 163rd (1 mile) lOmph its going to cost us 18 seconds, drop the whole section of road 80 seconds in time, I can live with either one. Its just a matter of time until someone gets clocked good or a life is taken. I'm going to guess its more apt to happen between game times during the summer months. I think a permanent speed change would be warranted if not permanent at least during game/practice times, that's when I have seen the most close calls.