Looking for solutions to the traffic problems at the intersections of Pope and Detroit and Detroit and Prairie streets, Warsaw City Planner Justin Taylor presented one concept to the Traffic Commission Wednesday.
The two intersections, which are near Warsaw Cut Glass, have been looked at by the Traffic Commission for a lengthy period of time due to the speeding vehicles coming off Prairie onto Detroit, backed up traffic on Pope and the poor visibility for drivers turning from Pope onto Detroit.
Taylor and city engineer Aaron Ott had a virtual meeting with representatives of Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) recently to discuss the issues.
“Basically, where we left it is we wanted to come up with some ideas for them. They kind of threw out some ideas that we knew might not work - like a small roundabout there - just to see how people reacted or could use it. In reality, it’s not an intersection where we could do that without a significant reworking of the whole thing. So we didn’t even want to try a temporary solution like that,” Taylor said.

    Warsaw Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs (L) and Mayor Jeff Grose look at a proposed draft from City Planner Justin Taylor for the intersection of Prairie and Detroit streets at Warsaw Cut Glass. The proposal includes pushing parked vehicles at Warsaw Cut Glass further south from the intersection, an ADA compliant sidewalk and a parking lot south of the business. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

The result of that meeting with MACOG, he said, was a draft of a plan that he provided to the commission.
“This is something that we could potentially implement in a temporary capacity and look at ways to make it more permanent,” he said. “Basically, what this does is it accomplishes some of the goals that the owners of (Warsaw Cut Glass) were initially coming in here with. There’s some visibility issues for cars that are approaching the stop sign as they turn south onto Detroit. So what this does is it would push back some of those parked cars, make some ADA spaces, but there would need to be a reworking of the sidewalk.”
The draft also has a small parking lot south of Warsaw Cut Glass.
He said his draft was just an idea at this point of what the intersection of Pope and Detroit streets could look like to make it a little more safe and increase the visibility.
If the Traffic Commission decided on a plan, MACOG could potentially help the city lay out some temporary barricades to simulate a configuration like the draft concept proposes, though Taylor said it wouldn’t be perfect.
Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon asked if the draft plan addressed the relocation of the utility pole at the corner of Pope and Detroit. Taylor said he didn’t call for that, but the pole is definitely a visible obstruction. Taylor said he thought that would be secondary to a large vehicle parked in front of Warsaw Cut Glass obstructing the view of traffic trying to turn onto Detroit from Pope. He also said moving the pole would be a very substantial project for NIPSCO.
Dillon agreed if there’s a large vehicle in the parking stalls right in front of the business, it does make it almost impossible for the vehicles turning south to see the vehicles coming north from Prairie, but the pole is “definitely part of the problem.”
Taylor said the design he drafted would work around the pole, provide an ADA sidewalk and a ramp up to Warsaw Cut Glass’s door.
At previous commission meetings, Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs reminded the board, they have talked about putting up a stop sign at Prairie and Detroit intersection but it’s not recommended to put up a stop sign to regulate speed.
Warsaw Police Department Capt. Joel Beam said, “So, I’m probably going to state the obvious, not make people happy, looking at this, all of the parking, it appears, at Warsaw Cut Glass is actually in the city right-of-way. There’s actually not parking spaces there.”
Looking at a picture of the business, he said there’s a crosswalk that goes to where the sidewalk should be, but there’s vehicles parked where the sidewalk would be. He said if they could make all of Warsaw Cut Glass’s parking be on the south side of the building, that would be better instead of in the city’s right-of-way.
Commission member and City Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said Taylor’s draft plan might be a good first step on the parking, but, “I guess I still have concerns because I’ve been trying to watch that area, and others have, too, but still cars are speeding awfully fast around that corner there. I’m not sure what can be done to handle that.”
City Councilman Mike Klondaris asked if Taylor’s proposal were to happen, who would pay for it? No one from the commission responded, so he said it was probably too early in the process.
His second question involved the proposed parking lot on the south end of Warsaw Cut Glass. “Is that right at the end of Prairie? Would you go straight across Detroit into the parking lot?” Commission members said yes.

    Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose (R) gives Jason Brown (L) the oath of office as the new member of the Warsaw Traffic Commission Wednesday. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

“So, if that were the case, you would probably almost certainly be required to have a stop sign there before you were to dart across Detroit Street into the parking lot, wouldn’t you?” he asked.
Taylor said if they were going east on Prairie, they would be able to just drive across Detroit and into the parking lot because vehicles turning left off Prairie and onto Detroit now don’t have a stop sign. There is a yield sign on Detroit southbound before the intersection with Prairie.
Councilman and Commission member Jack Wilhite said currently Prairie onto Detroit has the right of way.
Klondaris said putting a stop sign at Prairie onto Detroit might cure some of the problem there and be a simple solution. A stop sign would make it a more “predictable” intersection, he suggested.
Wilhite said he personally doesn’t feel like he would want to mess up the flow of Prairie and Detroit streets. Dillon said he didn’t really see any benefit to putting a stop sign at Prairie and Detroit.
Warsaw Community Schools Transportation Director Mark Fick said the busiest times for that area is when the high school students go to and get out of school and when Lakeview Middle School students go to and get released from school.
Dobbins said the visibility is bad at the intersection of Pope and Detroit if you’re a driver who wants to make a left-hand turn onto Detroit from Pope. There’s the pole there and sometimes cars parked at the business.
“So I think visibility might be a good first step,” she said.
Grubbs said that’s what Taylor’s proposal targets, more so than the speeding factor of people coming off Prairie onto Detroit.
“Without putting a stop sign in there, there isn’t a way that you can slow people down, other than the fact to have police cars out there and you can’t do that all the time,” Grubbs said.
Taylor said one other tool that they possibly could have, working with MACOG, was to place road markings at the corner to narrow the drive lanes like they do on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. “They narrow the lanes and stripe it in a way that makes people slow down,” he said, adding that’s another option they could look at, even as a temporary test.
Pavement markings could help, Dillon said, as they did at Provident Drive a few years ago.
After some further discussion on the design concept, pavement markings and a stop sign at the end of Prairie, the commission agreed to continue to explore the possibilities.
In other business:
• Mayor Jeff Grose gave Jason Brown the oath of office as a new member of the commission.
• Beam was unanimously re-elected as the commission’s secretary.
• The next meeting was announced as 1 p.m. Feb. 7 in the City Hall Council Chambers.