Traffic Panel OKs Martin's Access, Our Father's ParkingWarsaw Traffic Safety Commission Wednesday approved a dedicated access on Husky Trail that would allow for a proposed Martin's Super Market in Warsaw.
The supermarket is being proposed approximately a quarter mile northwest of the Husky Trail/Parker Street intersection in the northwest corner of the Menards subdivision development.Wednesday's vote was 7-1 with commissioners George Clemens, Steve Foster, Jerry Patterson, Dan Robinson, Greg Schroeder, Warsaw Police Department Traffic Commission Administrator Kip Shuter and Warsaw City Planner Jeremy Skinner voting in favor of the cut.
Commissioner and City Councilman Dan Hampton voted against the dedicated access on Husky Trail. He said he felt the recommended access on Mariner Drive also should be taken into account when voting on the Husky Trail access because traffic will be increased.
"I think we need to make a motion on the proposed Mariner Drive cut because the engineers are proposing the cut, and I consider that in my decision along with the Husky Trial cut," Hampton said.
He said if the commission is being told Husky Trail is safe, the fact that a cut on Mariner Drive is being considered needs to be addressed.
Shuter said he didn't think the safeness of the cut on Husky Trail had anything to do with the cut on Mariner Drive.
"The proposed cut on Mariner Drive changes the level of service, but it doesn't change the safeness of the cut," Shuter said.
Hampton said he thought the level of service and the safety of the cut go hand in hand.
Warsaw City Council at its May 18 meeting approved rezoning 0.65 acres from residential to commercial to allow for the proposed supermarket.
Skinner said Warsaw Plan Commission will review the proposed Martin's Super Market development plan at its meeting Monday.
Wightman Petrie, an Elkhart-based consulting engineer and landscape company, previously completed a 12-hour traffic analysis from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 22 at the proposed site for the supermarket. The traffic impact analysis was requested by Warsaw to determine the traffic volume for the proposed supermarket and bank.
The company presented the study during the May traffic meeting when the commission requested the company conduct another traffic study now that Menards has been built.
During Wednesday's traffic commission meeting, Ken Jones, Wightman Petrie, presented the commissioners with findings from a second traffic impact study.
Wightman Petrie conducted a second six-hour traffic count on a Saturday. The study found the commuter traffic movements through the Menards intersection were lower on weekends with people not going to work.
The study also found trips to the Menards store were dramatically higher on the Saturday with peak traffic period between 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Jones said the company recommended the proposed Martin's site based on capacity, site circulation, and truck access have an access to Mariner Drive and a dedicated access to Husky Trail.
"We're comfortable with the cut on Husky Trail and feel that it is perfectly adequate and safe and should serve the community and proposed store site," Jones said.
He said the second traffic study found similar traffic counts to the study they conducted before the Menards store was completed.
Jones said the cuts at Husky Trial and Mariner Drive would result in less delay and improve the level of service at the intersections the supermarket would use for the proposed site.
"Our goal is to make sure that every aspect of the traffic plan is as safe as it can be, and we have a responsibility to the public and Martin's to make sure that happens," Jones said.
In other business, the commission approved installing 60-degree angle parking in front of Our Father's House, 401 Argonne Road.
Shuter said there currently is 22 feet of width in front of Our Father's House from the distance of its parking blocks to the new road edge. There is another five feet used for a walkway in front of the store.
He said when vehicles back out of Our Father's into traffic it causes safety problems.
