As a first step to address a resident’s concerns about the traffic at the intersection of Bison Lane and an alley, the Warsaw Traffic Commission voted Wednesday to put up a yield sign there.
Bison Lane starts at West Fort Wayne Street, west of American Legion Post 49, and goes north toward Nye Park.
City engineer Aaron Ott reminded the commission the intersection has come up before, it’s uncontrolled and it’s an alley that intersects with a “roadway,” but neither see much traffic.
“We have a local resident that lives there who we have to rely on for a lot of these observations that take place because I could go sit out there any given time for hours and I might not see a single vehicle to use to evaluate what might be the best way to improve the situation,” he said.
According to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), he said, “The warrant that would make this something we could just go right out and put either a stop sign, yield signs, whatever, is if we had two crashes in the past year. We haven’t had a single crash, is my understanding, so this puts us under the basis of engineering judgement.”
Ott said there were different tiers they could try to improve the safety at the intersection.

    After 15 years with the Warsaw Police Department, serving 10 years on the Warsaw Traffic Commission, Sgt. Lewis Fuller is moving to the Columbia City Police Department to be a school resource officer there. His last day with WPD is Nov. 15. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

“Following the logic of the MUTCD, when you’re dealing with an uncontrolled intersection and ... we’re already stretching the definition of an intersection because it’s an alley. And then it’s a street that’s got a street name, but it’s not really designed or operated as a street either,” Ott said.
He said they don’t want to implement a traffic solution that’s going to impede the best flow of traffic. In the Bison Lane and alley situation, he said that doesn’t exist yet because there’s not enough traffic there to worry about impeding it by doing anything.
Step one to address the resident’s concern would be a yield sign for one direction of traffic, he said. If that turned out to not be enough, they could work their way up to making the intersection to all-way stop. Ott said they’re not trying to control speed because vehicles should already be moving at low speeds through there since they’re alleys.
Ott noted it’s a temporary situation until the full development on North Buffalo Street gets completed.
Public Works and Streets Superintendent Dustin Dillon said he spoke to the resident as well and his main concern was the speed of the westbound traffic coming off Buffalo Street.
“You’re proposing putting a yield sign that would be heading to the south on Bison Lane, yielding to the westbound traffic coming across?” Dillon said.
Ott said no, it would be yielding the westbound traffic. “That yield sign is meant to serve westbound traffic, the one-way traffic that’s coming westbound from Buffalo to Lake (Street).”
Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs asked if the alley westbound was a one-way, and Ott said that was correct.
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said she’s had some concerns expressed to her from the dental office on Lake Street about people speeding through there.
City Planner Justin Taylor said a yield sign at the intersection makes sense.
Warsaw Police Department Capt. Joel Beam said generally police don’t sit on alleyways to enforce traffic as they have bigger fish to fry. The alley intersection hasn’t had any crashes. He likes the idea of putting a yield sign up there as it’s simple and he’d be open to trying it.
Dillon said yield signs don’t have to be approved by the Warsaw Common Council and he wouldn’t have a problem putting one up at the intersection to give it a try as a temporary solution. He made a motion to put a yield sign up, Council President Jack Wilhite seconded it and it was approved unanimously.
Next, Beam brought up a citizen’s complaint regarding speeding on Main Street in the area of Cook Street.
He did a seven-day speed survey and found that the average speed on Main Street was 22.15 mph. The average volume of vehicles per day is 1,690.4 on Main Street.
Looking at vehicles going 10 mph or more over the speed limit, he said they accounted for only about 0.2%, while vehicles going 5 mph over the speed limit accounted for 1.6%. “So 98.4% of the vehicles are not speeding,” Beam said.
Grubbs said sometimes 30 mph seems faster than it actually is. Wilhite said the speed on Main Street seems to be under control. Taylor said he would go out to Main and Cook and see if there might be a visibility issue.
Under new business, Grubbs reported the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) lowered the speed limit on Ind. 15 south of Warsaw between Rozella Road and CR 300S to 50 mph from 55 mph.
On downtown parking, Taylor reported, “We had a good turnout for our pre-bid meeting for a parking consultant. We had nine companies express interest, six showed up to the pre-bid, and then four were selected for a secondary interview.”
He said they heard an hour-long presentation from each of the four consultants.
“We’re in the process of finalizing their proposals so that we can review them. Most of it’s the technology side so making sure PD is comfortable with the technology side, but they’re all about the same as far as turnkey. So decisions need to be made on which vendor we choose,” Taylor stated.
Implementation and any changes that happen to downtown Warsaw parking ordinances will have to go before the Common Council, but the Traffic Commission will get a look at them.
In an announcement to the commission, Beam said, “There are two things that I really do not like. I don’t like change and I also don’t like goodbyes. And we have had the pleasure of working with Sgt. Lewis Fuller for 15 years at the Warsaw Police Department. He’s served on the Traffic Commission for the last 10 years. Sgt. Fuller is going to be moving on to the Columbia City Police Department, where he’s going to be a school resource officer at the school where his kids attend. So it’s a great move.”
Beam described Fuller as a Godly man with integrity. If he could clone Fuller to fill his role, he would do that.
“Lewis, you’re going to be missed and we appreciate your service in the city and also to Warsaw Schools,” Beam stated.
After Fuller thanked Beam, Grubbs said Columbia City’s gain is Warsaw’s loss.
“Thank you, guys, I appreciate those words,” Fuller said. “It’s a bittersweet move, but it’s one of those things that presented itself. It was quick, out of the blue. I was not looking for a move. I really enjoy Warsaw PD and Warsaw Community Schools. It’s like a second home, but that being said, Columbia City has always been near and dear to my heart and the opportunity to be in the schools with my kids - I have some nephews there as well, as well as I coach there, I’ve coached there for 10 years - so knowing that school system and the people there as well, it’s always been close to me. It was an opportunity I didn’t think I could turn down.”
He said he enjoys Warsaw a lot, but he’s looking forward to being home and being with his kids and players at Columbia City.
Fuller’s last day with WPD after 15 years is Nov. 15, his anniversary date with the police department.
Beam said they’re working on replacing Fuller in the school and on the Traffic Commission. Whoever replaces him will have big shoes to fill.
The next meeting of the commission is at 1 p.m. Jan. 8 at City Hall. There will be no December meeting.