According to a report by JD Malone in the Express-Times (read the article here), residents in Upper Nazareth Township took their concerns regarding the probable traffic that will result from a new Middle School to their Supervisors.
The residents from the area of Mitchell Avenue are requesting it to be a one way entrance only and were supported by Police Chief Alan Siegfried. And it appeared the Supervisors agreed.
Solicitor Asteak noted to the Supervisors that any conditions they had would have to be included in the approval of the school district's plans.
The NASD will present its revised plans on February 21 to the township.
16 comments:
Seems there will be a lot of traffic congestion. For those who would be traveling east on Mitchell Ave if it is to be a one way in that direction.
Traffic might really back up with hs and ms traffic trying to make lefts or rights on Friedenstahl Ave. With the bend in the road and the speed which some drives drive caution is needed. The more two way traffic in and out of the parking might be better to keep traffic flowing.
I'm the one that leading the resident's group on this, and your comments are just what we want to avoid. Because the school district doesn't want to properly acknowledge the traffic problem (do you know they are asking for an exemption from Upper Nazareth to start before they have all the approvals from Penn Dot?) What is being proposed here is that Upper Nazareth police and residents pick up the tab (again) for the school districts short sidedness. Of course, the proposal to resolve this is the $1MM (Yes one $$ million!) 4 lane bridge across the Schoeneck Creek, to connect the upper and lower campuses, and to handle the $25MM expansion to the high school (have you heard about this? I have plans in hand (from an architect)which clearly show it! Are we out to protect our properties when all this happens within the next 5 years - you bet your sweet a** we are! Jusy watch what happens next with eminent domain proceedings!
Roxanne DeRaymond replies: At a school board meeting I did ask about the future traffic porblems with the speed of drivers and traffic already can back up on Friedenstahl Ave at the 5th street stop sign heading south. Dr. Lesky mention traffic lights will be installed at either end of the Friedenstahl and the other concerns such as speed, back ups at 5th St, and traveling fast (south) on Friedenstahl. Plus having to stop quickly sometimes because short site on the hill with not seeing how far the traffic at 5th is back up is to be a concern that needs to be taken to Upper Naz (as far as the roads). I live on the top of the hill at Friendenstahl and anyway it will be a mess withmajhor back ups. I know Dr. Lesky mentioned the bridge and I asked if this was in the future budget and he said no but an add on later. At what cost will it be to keep traffic in house? But that is only good until school lets out and cars will still be locking up on top at Friedenstahl. Congestion nightmare in the making at am and pm school dismissal times.
Sorry for the porblems instead of problems and withmajhor..but you get the picture.
I think it will be nice to have a way in and out on Mitchell. It will sure help during the football games. The kids will have 2 ways to get out of the lower parking lot.
Roxanne asking Mr Polles:
Can someone explain how Upper Naz can allow for an expemtion without approval from PA DOT? Certain laws apply to sites distance that I think would need to be approved by PA DOT before work be could start on widening, adding or building bridges on or around Friedenstahl and/or Mitchell Ave. Are there more eminent domain issues arising besides Calandra's Land or is you reference to Calandra's.
Steve, you may want to get in touch with the residents along 4th Street who were able to eventually get the NASD to put a gate up at the new MS to curb traffic along their neighborhood street. They also got the number of buses on that street reduced. Whatever they did was effective, and I'm pretty sure it was fought in the Board Room, Township, and public opinion.
They were able to keep buses running down Victory Lane (in front of other people's homes) to Tatamy Road to the school instead of straight down 4th from building to building.
In your case I sympathize, because if they allow traffic out of the school onto Mitchell Avenue you are going to get a lot of people racing through in attempts to cross East Lawn without a light or back into town without a light (and you will probably see a lot of run stop signs.
If I was in your position, I'd advocate to close the entrance from Mitchell to the school and require the utilization of Friedenstahl.
Good luck.
You people really need to get out of your homes and come to meetings- the next one is Feb 21st with the Upper Nazareth supervisors at 7:00pm at the Municipal meeting.
1st off- we do not want to touch Mitchell traffic flow. It remains the same as today. The request is to make the parking lot itself one way in only.
2nd- we had people from 4th St at one of the meetings, and they asked the supervisors for better control at 4th St gate - no one had anything in writing the school district could be held to. We do not want to be in the same position with promises but nothing to back it up.
3rd - the MAIN entrance to the football field (will be know as the SPORTS field going forward) will be from the reconstructed parking lot. Since this is the case, it makes sense to then send this traffic out to Friedensthal with the traffic lights and down to 33, since that is where most of it will go anyhow.
4th - the school district manual states that no traffic over 5mph is allowd on school district property - when is the last time you saw that enforced?
5th - your right about the lights - they will last until the traffic backs up, and then everyone will do a sprint for the Mitchell St exit and our streets will be flooded with traffic trying to beat the traffic sitting at the lights - exactly what we do not want in our neighborhood.
Coming to the meeting on the 21st? - main topic is about the traffic and traffic lights for the middle school
Roxanne adds Upper Nazareth and NASD certainly can make a lot of money in coLlecting fines for all those not obeying the speed limits. I did ask earlier about the exemption, I guess if they are not consider state roads an exemption could be possible. I know the plans have been altered for the new ms, how many entrances and exits will the new building have at this point? Most parking lots are one way at most schools.
To News Over Coffee:
I am a resident of 4th street and we did not get the NASD to put up the gate on 4th street. This gate was put there, we were told, to keep traffic out as this was to be an emergency entrance, exit only. It was to be used by emergency vehicles only. We were told busses would not be using this entrance because our streets were not wide enough to accomodate busses coming and going at the same time. This gate has been left open many times all night long, something else we were told would never happen. It has also been opened for traffic following the middle school dances. When my daughter was in the middle school, I would walk over to get her after the dances, and the gate would be open for cars exiting the dance.
To Mr. Polles: Good luck with your fight. Just remember to take what the school board tells you with a grain of salt. We were promised alot and got nothing.
Appreciate all your comments, but it takes more than luck to get your point across. As far as the traffic backing up on Friedensthal and the 4th st gate problems, I implore you to come to the meeting on the 21st and air your concerns. The middle school will have 2 entrances/exits on to Friedensthal. The so called traffic "expert" NASD produced was to assure Up Naz supervisors that they needed the lights - he did nothing to resolve the local traffic problems. We need to push for a more comprehensive plan of traffic control before they give approval - and they can give conditional approval, unfortunately (do it for other projects, so would be biased not to do it for this one).
Look in the Express for the article on meeting with the supervisors last Wednesday night - maybe the page can be posted here- it was in 2/8/07 paper. I'm not looking for any personal gain by posting it here, but note that the UP Naz police chief now agree's with us, as well as 2 of the supervisors. Again, the more that show up at the meeting on the 21st, the more impact we have. Would love to have it SRO, and we all voice our concerns as a group.
I have lived on north liberty street for 17 years now. When I purchases my house I know that the school and football stadium where there and that it would mean traffic in the neighborhood. The reality is that there is increased traffic for about 15 to 30 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon. Other that that their really is not that much traffic to be concerned about except for home football games which are a nightmare but then again I knew that when I moved here. What I would like to see is speed control devices (bumps or strips) placed on Liberty Street. I say this not only to control the students but also the adults. In my 17 years here I have seen more adults speeding down liberty street that I have seen students.
I've discussed here and raised the issue of pedestrian safety and traffic as it relates to speeding and rolling through stop signs at Council meetings.
Within the Borough, I can say that the Mayor noted they have taken some measures to improve enforcement during school hours when we have more traffic in town.
Of course one of the challenges they face is that for every choke point where there is traffic, people shoot off down sidestreets to get around them.
The borough has made plans, they are going to have reminders about pedestrian 'rights' in the next issue of the borough newsletter, and now we need to see to what extent they can back it up with increased tickets for these violations (which are committed by all manner of people, old and young, residents and non).
On Liberty street between Shafer and E. Walnut/Tatamy road I can honestly say almost every day that we walk I see a driver that ought to be thankful they were not in an accident. Most of the time these are parents with kids in the cars or those having dropped off looping around (down Belvidere to Victory Lane back to Tatamy Road).
Having said that the areas in discussion for the MS are primarily in Upper Nazareth. People that drive through town now to get to the MS will still do so to get to the new building. I don't see new traffic as a result of this building, except at the IS where more people from all over the district will be coming to drop off elementary aged students.
Also, now there will be two entrances to the Mitchell parking lot. I think some kids will use Friedenstahl which will reduce the flow of traffic for that half hour every day. I think it will be better.
How about some enforcement from the Township police? A couple of tickets every once and a while would slow the kids down and provide more police presence to the neighborhood than currently exists. Once or twice a month doesn't seem like too much to expect as long as its is random. Give us a few speed bumps on the streets and the problem will be taken care of.
Every time a police officer sits and waits for those not following the speed limit on Friedenstahl Ave; they catch speeders. Too bad they can only get one at a time because during am rush and school letting out, there are more than one drivers speeding everyday on Friedenstahl even too fast they cannot stop in time at the Fifth St. stop sign. One car was clocked at 65mph. I am afraid unless there is stricter enforcement with consistency, this will continue to get much worse.
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