Tag: crashes

College-Walnut corridor study: Thursday meeting set to continue with “starter ideas”

College-Walnut corridor public meeting (June 13, 2023)
College-Walnut corridor public meeting (June 13, 2023)
Map showing north-south extent of the study area.
College-Walnut corridor public meeting (June 13, 2023)
College-Walnut corridor public meeting (June 13, 2023)

On Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. in city council chambers, some “starter ideas” for the redesign of College Avenue and Walnut Street—Bloomington’s main north-south corridor—will be presented by Toole Design, the city’s consultant on the project.

The “starter ideas” will be based on feedback from the public collected over the last few weeks, through in-person meetings and online surveys that have been advertised on the project webpage.

The initial collection of perspectives from the public culminated in a public meeting on Tuesday night.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the team from Toole got reports from five tables where groups of attendees had spent a half hour poring over a table-sized aerial print of the corridor stretching from the 45/46 bypass southward to Allen Street. Allen Street is south of the place where College and Walnut merge into a single street—it’s a bit north of Switchyard Park.

The groups were asked to consider three questions:

  • What do you like and want to see retained?
  • What do you dislike and want to see changed?
  • What is missing that you would like to see created?

Continue reading “College-Walnut corridor study: Thursday meeting set to continue with “starter ideas”” →

Stop signs reinstalled at 7th & Dunn in Bloomington

7th Street looking east. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn street looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets looking northwest. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets, looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
Reinstallation of the stop at 7th and Dunn streets. (April 12, 2023)
Reinstallation of the stop sign at 7th and Dunn streets. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets, looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets, looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)

Around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, a yellow-vested crew from the street division of Bloomington’s department of public works started drilling holes to reinstall stop signs for 7th Street traffic at Dunn Street.

The work was finished by around 3 p.m. That makes the intersection at Dunn and 7th, just west of the Indiana University campus, an all-way stop.

The stop sign went in, because city engineer Andrew Cibor used his legal authority, to order the placement of the stop signs for 180 days.

Cibor’s order is based on a study of crashes along the 7th Street corridor, before and after the 7-Line separated bicycle lane was installed in 2021. The study showed an increase in crash numbers, especially at the intersection of Dunn and 7th Street. Continue reading “Stop signs reinstalled at 7th & Dunn in Bloomington” →

Traffic commission agrees with bike/ped group on 7th Street: Reinstall stop sign only at Dunn

A recommendation from city engineer Andrew Cibor, to reinstall five stop signs along 7th Street in downtown Bloomington, will not have complete support from two advisory groups when it lands in front of the city council.

On Monday, the bicycle and pedestrian safety commission (BPSC) recommended reinstalling just one of the five stop signs, which were removed in connection with the construction of the 7-Line separated bicycle lane under an ordinance enacted by the city council.

On Wednesday, the traffic commission followed suit, unanimously recommending that the intersection at 7th and Dunn street be restored to an all-way stop.

It’s not clear when the recommendation will be put in front of the city council for a vote.

The impetus behind Cibor’s recommendation to reinstall the stop signs is an increase in crashes at the intersections after the 7-Line was opened in late 2021.

Both appointed groups explicitly rejected Cibor’s recommendation that stops for 7th Street traffic at Morton, Lincoln, Washington, and Grant streets also be reinstalled.

The vote against reinstallation of the other four stop signs was unanimous on the BPSC. But traffic commissioners were split 4–2.

Cibor is a member of the city’s traffic commission and voted to support his own recommendation. The other vote for reinstallation came from Bloomington police officer and traffic commissioner Benjamin Burns. Continue reading “Traffic commission agrees with bike/ped group on 7th Street: Reinstall stop sign only at Dunn” →

Should stop signs return to Bloomington’s 7-Line bike lane? Traffic commission next to take up question

Washington Street looking south at 7th Street. (Dave Askins/B Square 2021-10-09)
View looking west from the top of the parking structure at 7th & Walnut.
The 7-Line looking east, B Square file photo (Sept. 13, 2022)

When Bloomington’s 7-Line separated bicycle lane was built in 2021, five stop signs for east-west 7th Street traffic were removed,  under an ordinance enacted by the city council.

The stops for 7th Street traffic at Morton, Lincoln, Washington, Grant, and Dunn streets were removed, but those for the north-south side streets were left in place.

The elimination of the stops was meant to encourage the use of the east-west corridor by cyclists.

Now with a year’s worth of crash data in hand after the opening of the 7-Line, Bloomington’s city engineer Andrew Cibor is recommending that the five stop signs be reinstalled.

The reinstallation of the stop signs would have to be approved by the city council. Before the city council considers the engineer’s recommendation, two of the city’s advisory boards are supposed to weigh in—the bicycle and pedestrian safety commission (BPSC) and the traffic commission.

On Monday, the BPSC unanimously rejected the idea that all five stop signs should be reinstalled. But the BPSC unanimously supported reinstallation of the 7th Street stop signs at Dunn Street.

Next up to hear Cibor’s report will be the traffic commission, which meets at 4:30 p.m on Wednesday. Continue reading “Should stop signs return to Bloomington’s 7-Line bike lane? Traffic commission next to take up question” →

Winslow Road resurfacing gets some discussion by Bloomington RDC, but no vote on contract

The yellow area is Bloomington’s consolidated TIF district. The purple line is the original scope of the Winslow Road project all the way to High Street. That scope has been dialed back to Allendale Drive.

An item related to a Winslow Road resurfacing project—which was postponed by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission from its meeting two weeks ago—still did not get a vote by the RDC on Monday.

The resolution that appeared Monday’s meeting agenda did not need a vote, according to assistant city attorney Larry Allen, because the construction contracts were not yet ready to be approved. And the contract approvals were not yet ready because the grant from INDOT’s Community Crossings matching grant program has not yet been awarded.

But public works director Adam Wason was able to respond to questions from RDC members about the project. The item had been postponed from two weeks ago, because Wason was not able to attend that meeting.

On Monday, Allen also sketched out the legal department’s position on why TIF (tax increment finance) funds are allowed to be spent on a project like Winslow Road resurfacing. The project entails milling down the surface of the road by a couple of inches, laying new asphalt and re-striping the pavement.

Winslow Road cuts east-west across the southern part of Bloomington. Continue reading “Winslow Road resurfacing gets some discussion by Bloomington RDC, but no vote on contract” →

Winslow Road repaving gets initial $500K nod from Bloomington RDC

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=1h7lxTOSY61FWk8H2yhNHa67IlDrrzQU&usp=sharing
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=1h7lxTOSY61FWk8H2yhNHa67IlDrrzQU&usp=sharing

Winslow Road, which cuts east-west across the southern part of Bloomington, has received a nod from the city’s redevelopment commission for a resurfacing project that is supposed to be completed sometime in 2023.

The preliminary engineering work for the project is hoped to start this fall and last through the spring, with construction to begin in 2023.

The RDC’s initial approval, which came at its regular Tuesday meeting,  established the work as an RDC project, with a kind of placeholder cost of $500,000. But the action by the five-member RDC did not approve the expenditure of any funds.

The scope of the project goes from Walnut Street on the west to High Street to the east.

Public works director Adam Wason responded to an emailed B Square question by describing the planned work as a “standard milling/paving/lane marking project.” Continue reading “Winslow Road repaving gets initial $500K nod from Bloomington RDC” →