MOUNT VERNON — City council members are one step closer to designing a safer intersection on the north side of Mount Vernon.
After analyzing crash data at the North Sandusky Street, Cassell Road, and Upper Fredericktown Road intersection last summer, council members authorized applying for an $820,000 grant to explore intersection improvements.
Multiple crashes have occurred at the intersection, including one fatality.
Last November, CORPO ((Central Ohio Rural Planning Organization) awarded the city $524,976.14 for planning purposes.
On Monday, council members gave second readings to legislation authorizing the city to accept the ODOT funds and issue a Request for Qualifications for a planning firm that can deliver solid ideas to the city.
City Engineer Brian Ball told the council there are several different intersection alternatives. Those alternatives include a roundabout and the ideas proposed by resident Andrew Pike.
“We don’t know what we’re doing exactly, right?” Ball said. “So, we need to look at the pluses and minuses.”
The safety project begins at Stump and James streets and extends north to the northern boundary of Clinton Township. It includes sidewalks on all sides of the roads and improving water and wastewater lines.
The area is what Ball called “a saddle of jurisdictions.” Jurisdictions include the city, Clinton Township, Knox County, and the state (Ohio Department of Transportation).
Knox County Transit, the township, and county commissioners provided letters of support for the grant application.
Ball said that in the planning phase, only the city, federal government, and ODOT will have “skin in the game.”
“As we go forward, we would look at bringing other partners in once we have that sort of selected alternative,” he said. “These type of grants are 20% us and 80% state and federal.”
A change of mindset
Ball said the original mindset for improving the intersection was enforcement: install a sign, reduce speed, and enforce the law.
The challenge with enforcement is that the road flows through multiple jurisdictions.
“The way [the road’s] laid out now, it’s conducive for people to drive 40, 50 miles an hour. We don’t have the sight distances for that. With the intersections and the businesses, it’s not safe,” Ball said.
“But we can modify the road so that it sort of coaches the driver into driving at an appropriate speed.”
When evaluating alternatives, one factor to consider is the life-cycle cost of traffic signals.
“If I put a traffic signal here, what are the safety concerns? How many staff do we need to maintain that? How long are those parts going to last?” Ball asked.
“Does a traffic light make people drive slower? Sometimes no. Sometimes when it turns green, they just go faster.”
Additionally, the hill northbound complicates a traffic signal at the intersection for motorists traveling 45 mph who crest the hill and must stop quickly for a red light.
“A stop light there could be more dangerous,” Ball said.
Then there’s the question of turn signals.
“If you’re going to turn on Upper Fredericktown, do you turn on your right turn signal or not? Because if you do, then someone thinks maybe you’re going to turn onto Crestview,” he said.
“If you’re taking 13, should you turn your left signal on? Then people think am I going to turn into a business, or am I just following the route? I don’t know the right answer for how to signal in this intersection; some people go straight, some people turn. It’s very difficult to predict what the drivers are going to do because it’s confusing.”
Lots of community support
Ball emphasized that multiple people brought the project to the city, including residents in the Longitude Drive area and county officials.
“This is not something that the administration just went in a small room and made up,” he said. “This project is something we’ve looked at. People have brought this to us, so I believe we have a lot of community support for this.”
“The goal is to build something that maybe gets people to drive about 35 miles an hour, or in some areas maybe 20, as they approach the intersection.”
city engineer brian ball
Councilman James Mahan said, “A lot of traffic comes in from the north part of that into the city, so we had an opportunity to increase the safety and improve the aesthetics. I think it’s a good idea.”
Councilman Mel Severns uses the intersection frequently.
“I drive this intersection at least once a day, sometimes two or three times. I’m a bicyclist, and I have biked through this area,” he said.
“I can see where something, whether it’s a roundabout or whatever, would be beneficial because it’s very difficult to mitigate where to turn, when to turn, and all those things, especially if you’re coming out of the side streets.”