Columbus plans to add stop signs and reduce the speed limit in two areas of the city.
The Columbus Board of Works on Tuesday approved the installation of a four-way stop at the intersection of 15th Street and Lawton Avenue. The city received a request indicating that a lack of sight distance and speeding traffic made the intersection unsafe, said Dave Hayward, executive director of public works/city engineer.
Currently, the intersection has stop signs for northbound and southbound traffic on Lawton Avenue, Hayward said. The city plans to put up two additional stop signs for eastbound and westbound traffic within the next week, he said.
The city also plans to reduce speed limits on Washington Street between National Road (U.S. 31) and 11th Street. Requests were made by residents along Washington Street who said they believe that traffic is moving too fast in the residential area, Hayward said.
Currently, the speed limit along Washington Street is 30 mph between National Road and 25th Street, a two-lane stretch of the road; 35 mph between 25th and 11th streets, which is four lanes; and 30 mph south of 11th Street, a two-lane area.
However, that will change to 30 mph on Washington Street between 11th and 25th streets within the next week, Hayward said.
When requests for road safety improvements are received by the city, officials perform site visits to the areas that involve monitoring traffic counts, how fast vehicles are traveling and accident data, he said.
“Certainly, safety is the number-one concern,” Hayward said.
Hayward said the engineering office plans to conduct a follow-up study to see whether there is any change in the speeds of vehicles traveling along Washington Street.
The board also approved a bid from Fire Service Inc., based in Indianapolis, for $854,983 to allow the Columbus Fire Department to purchase an aerial quint. The vehicle is a combination between a ladder and pumper truck, deputy chief Andy Lay said.
The capital item for the fire department was already included in the 2018 budget, said Mary Ferdon, executive director of administration and community development. It will be paid out of the city’s cumulative capital development fund.
The fire department plans to replace an existing truck that will be auctioned off to help offset some of the costs toward the aerial quint, while another truck will go into the fire department’s reserves, Lay said.
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Members of the public can ask the City of Columbus engineering department to look into additional signage or to lower the speed limits on city streets by calling 812-376-2540.
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