Only a few weeks after imperiously dismissing the possibility of a crosswalk of any configuration at Main and W. 1st — paraphrased: the traffic isn’t slow enough and we won’t slow the traffic — the same cadre of city officials who regarded it as impossible now apparently have commenced a study to achieve it.
Before proceeding to the story, kindly note that NA Confidential placed this topic on the front burner way back in 2014. It’s nice when folks catch up.
Must we wait for a traffic study to slow traffic and put crosswalks at the corner of Main and W. 1st?
Walkability might as well begin with the intersection of Main and West 1st, so can it begin now?
As Team Gahan snoozes, the intersection of West 1st and Main is an accident waiting to happen.
Two weekend posts about Team Gahan’s arrogant auto-centrism.
Team Gahan’s breathtaking passive/aggressive answer to the question of making a safe pedestrian crossing at Main and W. 1st.
ON THE AVENUES: Requiem for the bored.
There is no crosswalk at Main and W. 1st Streets, and yet there’s one in the middle of the block by the hospital (2 of 2).
City engineer Larry Summers and INDOT explain why there is no crosswalk at Main and W. 1st Streets (1 of 2).
Dangerous intersections: Something for Greg Phipps to consider, though it’s unlikely they will.
Illustrating yet again that the unelected Redevelopment Commission holds the real power in New Albany, the commission apparently decided at Tuesday’s meeting that a crosswalk feasibility study is necessary, as farmed out to the usual suspects at Clark Dietz.
Does this firm have a non-compete clause?
My use of “apparently” owes to the fact that while this occurrence was printed in the Jeffersonville paper on Wednesday, and read to me over the phone by a friend, the paper deemed it sufficiently unimportant that it does not appear at the paper’s web site, and therefore cannot be referenced here.
Redevelopment’s feasibility study also has been corroborated by councilman David Barksdale and city engineer Larry Summers, who adds that whatever crosswalk proposal is made, it “still has to get INDOT approval.”
This observation is revealing in itself, as such INDOT approval might have come prior to the crucial pre-election West Main Street paving project last year, when city officials already were aware of pedestrians having problems crossing Main at W. 1st.
Had the city sought INDOT approval in 2015, perhaps the problem already would be resolved. But as Rep. Ed Clere once piquantly observed, one first must ask in order to receive … an answer.
Straight up: City Hall blew it in 2015, and now, for whatever reason, City Hall is trying to rally. If readers with connections to the Down Low Bunker will let us know who pushed this dramatic reversal of the previously impossible, I will publicly thank him or her, sans snark.
That’s because a human-friendly intersection at Main and W. 1st is an imperative. It has been for a while. Better late than never, I suppose — but can the momentum please be carried to other flash points, too?
Wait, I’ve got it: A non-binding city council resolution urging walkability in New Albany.
