Neighbors in the vicinity of Main and Bronson streets approached the Warsaw Traffic Commission Wednesday regarding a safety concern at that intersection.
Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs said the concern with the one-way westbound on Main at Bronson is that cross traffic has a difficult time with visibility, according to the complaint received.
Kim Hart, who lives on the northwest corner of the intersection, said before the bike lane went in on Main, she expressed a concern that when a driver goes south on Bronson and stops at Main, there was a fence that blocked the view.
“My concern was pulling out to see traffic coming, interfering with the bicycle. That hasn’t been the problem. The problem has been ... when you’re going north on Bronson, it’s almost impossible at times to see. I kind of creep out, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had cars come out in front of me and I didn’t see it coming,” she said.
She said it’s become a problem, with two accidents in March, one in February and one last July. Warsaw Police Department Capt. Joel Beam said he pulled the statistics and she was correct. In 2022, there were two accidents; 2023, one; 2024, one, with all of those vehicles going southbound on Bronson and pulling out in front of vehicles traveling on Main. Some of them thought it was a four-way stop, Beam said. All of the accidents so far this year at the intersection were northbound.
Neighbor Sherri Kelich said on Bronson Street, there’s stop signs at all the intersections all the way to the fairgrounds, except for Bronson and Main. She also noted there are children riding bicycles through there and “that is so dangerous. They go through there and people can’t see. Somebody is going to get hurt and I hope it’s not a child.” She said she would appreciate consideration of putting a stop sign there.
“Any street that crosses Bronson stops except for Main Street. I’ve been honked at, cussed at for pulling out in front of people going the wrong way. It’s amazing. It’s a free-for-all, quite frankly. I mean it really is,” Hart said.
Public Works Department Superintendent Dustin Dillon clarified that Sheridan Street does not stop at Bronson. Hart said it’s not an intersection as Bronson T’s at Sheridan, the same as Smith Street.
Dillon said he looked at the intersection earlier Wednesday and there was only one car parked near the intersection at that time. There was some concern about vehicles parked along Main Street blocking drivers’ views.
Dillon said he would like to put up an oversized “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” sign at the intersection before taking any further actions, and reviewing and potentially updating the “No Parking to the Curb” and looking to make sure the curb is still painted yellow. He said they just had a similar situation at Fort Wayne and Maple streets last year where they did the same thing.
If there are continued issues at the intersection, Dillon said they would look at doing an engineering study because an engineering study has to be completed to justify a stop sign placement.
City engineer Aaron Ott said he’d like to see a traffic count there before an engineering study is completed. Beam said he’ll contact the Michiana Area Council of Governments for that.
In other business:
• Hart asked if there has been any communication with the railroad to make the crossings smoother.
Dillon said for the railroad crossings themselves, there is a 1-800 number on blue signs at the crossings that people can call.
“I have the girls in the office call every single day because I cross it hundreds of times a day,” he said.
Hart said she’d be willing to call it every single day and she believes she’s had a couple car repairs because of the tracks.
Dillon said the mayor’s office just reached out last week about them as well. Other city departments have contacted the railroad as well.
“East-West went so long without being fixed, and now that they fixed, it’s like, ‘OK, now we’ve got to go back to the North,’” Hart said.
City Planner Justin Taylor said the mayor right now has an active email thread with the railroad working on that issue, trying to get it addressed.
• Grubbs brought up a request that was received for 15-minute parking at the angled parking on the side of The River Coffeehouse on North Buffalo Street.
Main Street Warsaw Director of Development Terry Sweeney said he was aware of the request. “They have a lot of traffic coming in and out that aren’t needing long-term parking, so it’s to facilitate that business,” he said.
He said while he thinks it’s needed, the city is currently revisiting downtown parking and enforcement of its rules.
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins agreed with Sweeney, saying, “I would agree with Terry on that because I think we’re so close to coming up with some other recommendations reference parking. I think we turned one down three or four months ago, again, because we’re kind of waiting to see how everything shook out so that we make the best decisions possible.”
The request was tabled pending the city’s changes with downtown parking.
• The commission revisited the issue of the Detroit and Pope streets intersection, which has discussed a number of times over the years.
Street Superintendent Dustin Dillon said last fall the street department put pavement markings down which delineate “where everybody should be.” Otherwise, he said he hadn’t heard of any updates or calls to his office.
Beam said they have had a few crashes there, but there was only one where a vehicle was on Pope Street turning left to go south on Detroit and had a crash.
There were two where vehicles were going north on Detroit and were turning right onto Pope and turned into a vehicle waiting to turn left onto Detroit.
There was one accident where a vehicle was waiting on Pope Street to turn left onto Detroit, and a truck pulling a trailer backed up to give him room and backed into a vehicle next to them.
There was another accident where a person was backing out of their driveway on Pope Street and backed into a car.
Grubbs said, obviously, those accidents were low-speed ones. Beam said there were no injuries.
No action was taken and there was no further discussion on the intersection.
• Beam reported May is National Bike Month.
“So we have a bunch of bikes that are in this community, with school closing. I’m just urging everyone to be careful. Watch those motorcycles, as well, and watch for those guys on the bike,” he said.
• WPD Chief Scott Whitaker presented the 2024 annual traffic report, which he also presented to the Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday and distributed to the city council.