Traffic Panel Considers Market Street Parking Ban Proposal
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission discussed the possibility of eliminating on-street parking for a one-mile area on Market Street during its meeting Wednesday. The parking ban would extend from from Wood Street to Argonne Road. After discussion, the commission decided to take the idea under advisement and gather more information. Information that will be gathered includes how many accidents have occurred within the one-mile area, how many residents do not have actual off-street parking and to also have traffic counts completed. The topic will be reviewed again at the commission’s April 3 meeting. The Warsaw-Winona Lake Bicycle Advisory Committee that worked to get a bike and walk plan approved by the city requested there be no parking in the area because the road with parking is not wide enough for both motor vehicle traffic and a bike path. Market Street will be a direct route from Krebs Trailhead Park and McKinley Street to the downtown area and connecting to the greenway on the east side of town. The parking ban will not apply to the area west of Wood Street. Everyone who lives on Market Street from Wood Street to Argonne Road has access to off-street parking, said Kip Shuter, Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission administrator. Off-street parking is available via a private drive or alleyway, Shuter said. “Market Street from Wood Street to Argonne Road is not wide enough to accommodate two lanes of traffic and parking safely,” Shuter said. Shuter said the area is only 25 feet wide. If on-street parking continues, with the addition of the proposed bike lane, the road would be reduced to nine feet for each motor vehicle lane. An ordinance in place says there must be an 18-foot or two nine-foot lanes for two-way traffic. Shuter said Market Street is designated as an urban collector’s street that feeds into major arterial streets by Michiana Area Council On Government. Shuter said traffic counts have been done and the maximum number of cars parked in the area at night is 11. Diane Wulliman, East Market Street resident, attended Wednesday’s meeting and said she felt there are more than 11 cars parked along the stretch between Wood Street and Argonne Road. “Living on Market Street I wouldn’t ride my bike on that street because there is too much traffic and I would take Lincoln Street and get on Fort Wayne or Main Street,” Wulliman said. “I don’t feel just for a bike lane it’s worth giving up parking and inconveniencing all those people for a bike lane that may or may not get used.” Tim Dombrosky, assistant city planner, said Market Street was designated as an urban collector street in 2011. He said it signifies that the street is capable of handling a certain amount of traffic and eligible for a certain rank of federal funding. “It seems busy enough it would be qualified more than a collector street but would be classified as more of a major arterial street in town, it’s busy,” said Mike Klondaris, traffic commission member. Klondaris said he met a visitor from Colorado who said drivers tend to drive faster on wider streets and slower on narrower ones. He asked if drivers would go faster if the lanes were widened and parked cars banned. Shuter said the city likes side road parking because if serves as a traffic calming device automatically. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer asked if street width would present a problem were the city to seek federal funding to reconstruct the street as an urban collector street. Dombrosky said the road would need to be restructured and widened and federal funding would not be administered if the road was kept at its current width. Thallemer said the city will be looking at Market Street as a connecting point between the Little Crow Foods building and the Gatke property. “The whole idea is that because it is on the bike lane that was identified in the master plan with the potential for some reconstruction project on Market Street, we want to know what folks want along there,” Thallemer said. He said there could be potential if the city received the right project and funding that a side path for bicyclists could be created. “That’s a possibility to have separate bike lanes on Smith Street, you would have to widen Market Street to be able to do that,” Thallemer said. “Right now the only thing that would fit would be shared bicycle lanes going down Market Street.” He said it would be easier for bicyclists to navigate without cars parked along Market Street, but there are still concerns with traffic volumes. “I am not so sure this is a bicycle issue as it is a geometry issue,” Thallemer said. Thallemer said the road is 25 feet wide and probably not wide enough for two lanes of traffic and a parking situation. “We are not saying we are putting in a bike facility and eliminating parking, the idea is to look at the problem with the parking now and try to work that out and determine what type of bike facility will go on Market Street.”
