Safer Sandusky-Central signals to come

KATE LIEBERS

Staff Writer

The San­dusky Street-Central Avenue inter­sec­tion in down­town Delaware could become safer for pedes­tri­ans and motorists by the end of the year.

A new sig­nal instal­la­tion is to assign sep­a­rate phases for pedes­tri­ans and vehi­cles, which city engi­neers hope will lower the num­ber of acci­dents there, Delaware Engi­neer­ing Direc­tor Bill Fer­rigno wrote in a recent report to city council.

The change also cre­ates an oppor­tu­nity to link the sig­nal with the Ohio 37 sig­nal net­work to make the inter­sec­tion more effi­cient, Fer­rigno wrote.

City coun­cil unan­i­mously agreed to enter a coop­er­a­tive agree­ment with the Ohio Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (ODOT), which will pro­vide state funds to help cover the $233,500 in asso­ci­ated expenses for the sig­nal adjust­ment. The city will cover the remain­ing $6,500 for sur­vey and bid advertisement.

The engi­neer­ing depart­ment expects to pro­vide an esti­mated $35,000 in cost sav­ings by con­duct­ing traf­fic engi­neer­ing ser­vices, engi­neer­ing plan prepa­ra­tion, bidding/award ser­vices, and con­struc­tion engi­neer­ing in-house.

Addi­tional cost sav­ings are expected through ODOT Dis­trict 6, which has vol­un­teered to pre­pare the required Fed­eral High­way Admin­is­tra­tion envi­ron­men­tal doc­u­ment in-house.

The grant was awarded based on a review of the intersection’s his­tory of acci­dents, Fer­rigno said.

Last year, three acci­dents were caused at or near the inter­sec­tion. Ten acci­dents were reported at the inter­sec­tion in 2010 and eight in 2009.

Fer­rigno attrib­uted the recent decline in acci­dents to road improve­ments made two years ago, when turn lanes were added to the north– and south-bound San­dusky Street lanes.

Prior to the turn-lane des­ig­na­tions, long lines of traf­fic would build behind dri­vers wait­ing to turn, and those dri­vers would have to turn in front of two lanes of oncom­ing traf­fic, said city spokesper­son Lee Yoakum.

Fer­rigno expects work on the sig­nal to begin in late spring or sum­mer, and be com­pleted by December.

Posted by Kate Liebers on Feb 8 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.