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<P>Tom,<BR><BR>This post was thoughtful, well-written, and well-researched. Please do not do this again. </P>
<P>In the future, I suggest you base your posts on silly arguments and then attack those who disagree with you as people who hold grudges against God.</P>
<P>Sunil</P></DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>From: <I>Tom Ivie <the_ivies3@yahoo.com></I><BR>To: <I>vision2020@moscow.com</I><BR>Subject: <I>[Vision2020] re: Third Street Bridge</I><BR>Date: <I>Sat, 20 Aug 2005 16:44:59 -0700 (PDT)</I><BR>
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<DIV>The City is in the planning<BR>stages of a proposal that will be going before City<BR>Council for approval in the near future. A proposal<BR>to bridge Third Street so that it will connect to<BR>Mountain View Rd. has already passed through the<BR>Transportation Commission and is now in Public Works<BR>Finance (tentively Sept. 12th). This proposal includes removing the on-street<BR>parking that currently exists on Third St. from Hayes<BR>to the other side of Blaine St. heading east. <BR>Connecting 3rd St. to Mountain View Rd. would<BR>significantly increase traffic on the street and<BR>create the portion between Hayes and Mountain View as<BR>a main arterial. It would prove to function as a main<BR>connection to downtown and straight on to Pullman.<BR><BR>The idea of a thoroughfare is to control through<BR>traffic in residential areas and promote public safety<BR>by designating
an arterial network to help channel<BR>extraneous traffic around neighborhoods. Connecting! </DIV><BR>3rd
<DIV></DIV>St. to Mountain View does just the opposite of<BR>this because the area East of Hayes Street was not<BR>designed to handle congestion. The street narrows<BR>before Blaine, going west, and remains narrow until<BR>Hayes. This creates a bottle neck which is<BR>exacerbated by the fact that there is on-street<BR>parking on the south side of the street between Blaine<BR>and Hayes. However, the on-street parking is<BR>essential because of the density of housing in the<BR>area and the proximity to East City Park and Lena<BR>Whitmore elementary school. The single family houses<BR>that are east of Hayes sit closer to the street than<BR>those west of Hayes. Also, the apartments that are<BR>between Cleveland and Hayes sit close to the street<BR>(the apartments west of Blaine are extremely close to<BR>the street) and do not appear to present the<BR>opportunity to
widen the street (The current front<BR>yard requirement for R3 and R4 is 20ft).<BR><BR>The quality of!
<DIV></DIV> life in
<DIV></DIV>residential neighborhoods can<BR>be significantly affected by traffic issues. Any<BR>significant increase in traffic would degrade the<BR>environment for pedestrians, bicyclists, and nearby<BR>residents.<BR><BR>Traffic issues affect Lena Whitmore Elementary School<BR>children. Not only between 8:00 and 8:30 am and 2:50<BR>to 3:30 pm is there plenty of traffic on Blaine which<BR>slows traffic on 3rd St., but children often cross<BR>Third Street later in the day and on the weekends as<BR>Lena Whitmore is also used and maintained as a park. <BR>Increased traffic will only create more unsafe<BR>conditions for walking children or those riding their<BR>bikes, scooters, skates, and skateboards. There is a<BR>general lack of crosswalks because this is an<BR>residential area. There is also a limited amount of<BR>sidewalks because this is an older neighborhood.
Not<BR>usually a problem in low traffic areas, but with a<BR>significant increase in traffic, it would be
<DIV></DIV>a<BR>tremendous problem. Crosswalks join sidewalks at<BR>corners. What does the child (or family) do that<BR>lives on the block without a sidewalk? Take their<BR>chance crossing the street to get to the side with the<BR>sidewalk? A national study released in October 2000<BR>shows that two-thirds of drivers speed through school<BR>zones, despite safety measures such as crosswalks,<BR>flashing signs and crossing guards. In addition to<BR>Lena Whitmore, the Jr. High is also affected. Many<BR>students cross Third Street at Cleveland on their way<BR>to and from school.<BR><BR>Sixth Street and D Street are already designated as<BR>arterials. Whereas, Third Street is currently<BR>designated as a collector. It is bad engineering<BR>practice to try to designate an arterial two streets<BR>away from one arterial (E/W) 6th street and
four-five<BR>streets away from another (D Street). Streets should<BR>be for people, not just car fun!
<DIV></DIV>nels to
<DIV></DIV>outer<BR>destinations. <BR><BR>The book titled Planning for Street Connectivity which<BR>was published in 2003 by the American Planning<BR>Association states, it's really not necessary to<BR>force open every subdivision in order to improve<BR>community-wide connectivity. It would be<BR>counter-productive (not to say, poor planning) to<BR>insist on a rigid connectivity principle applicable to<BR>every block. The key is to create strategically<BR>located links that benefit broad cross-sections of the<BR>community....<BR><BR>The firm of Robert Peccia & Associates did a report<BR>for the Helena Transportation Coordinating Committee<BR>in 2004. This Civil Engineering firm does projects<BR>all over the United States. The report stated that a<BR>collector street differs from an arterial in that<BR>collector roadways may traverse residential<BR>neighborhoods.
The city of Helena defines collector<BR>routes as carrying between 2,000 and 5,000 vehicles<BR>per d!
<DIV></DIV>ay.
<DIV></DIV>Whereas, they define an arterial as<BR>typically carrying more than 15,000 vehicles per day. <BR>They go on to state that "Long, continuous collectors<BR>will encourage through traffic, essentially turning<BR>them into arterials. This, in turn, results in the<BR>undesirable interface of local streets with arterials,<BR>causing safety problems and increased costs of<BR>construction and maintenance.<BR><BR>Moscows Comprehensive Plan Section 10<BR>(Transportation) talks about the extension of 3rd<BR>Street to Mountain View. However, by its adoption of<BR>the Comprehensive Plan, the Council is aware that<BR>Its desirability as a traffic corridor is limited
by<BR>narrow widths in the section east of Hayes Street
and<BR>by a lack of parking for a two-block portion. The<BR>Plan goes on to state that 3rd Street is not ideal for<BR>heavy traffic. Section
10 (Transportation), as it<BR>relates to 3rd St., appears to be in conflict with<BR>Section 4 (Centr!
<DIV></DIV>al
<DIV></DIV>Business District). The flow of<BR>traffic through the downtown area between eastern<BR>residential areas and the university and other<BR>destinations on the west side of town creates a<BR>problem of access to the central business district. <BR>Third and Sixth Streets carry a majority of the<BR>east-west traffic in the city, in addition to<BR>providing major access to the central business<BR>district. Distribution of a portion of Third and<BR>Sixth Streets traffic to other streets is needed to<BR>eliminate congestion on these streets and to<BR>facilitate access to the central business district. <BR><BR>Many in Moscow feel that this proposal will hurt the<BR>accessibility of programs in East City Park. Events<BR>that occur at East City Park draw many who find it<BR>convenient to park their vehicles along Third Street. <BR>For many events, we have personally
seen vehicles<BR>parked clear down to the Cleveland intersection of<BR>East Third. As the Ci!
<DIV></DIV>ty would
<DIV></DIV>experience an<BR>overwhelming increase of traffic on Third St. would<BR>they choose to eliminate more parking West of Hayes? <BR>What would that do to further the parking problem<BR>during East City Park events? <BR><BR>Moscow is fortunate to have preserved many of its<BR>historic resources and to have documentation for them.<BR>As you are aware, Moscow has 17 individual structures<BR>and 1 district of 116 structures on the National<BR>Register of Historic Places. One of these structures<BR>is the Mason Cornwall Residence at 308 S. Hayes, a<BR>corner property that is also situated on Third Street.<BR><BR>Furthermore, the increased traffic on Third Street<BR>between Hayes and Mountain View will unnecessarily<BR>burden the adjacent property owners and residents,<BR>creating a traffic funnel that will simply degrade the<BR>adjacent neighborhood. <BR><BR>Unlike the
intersections of Mountain View to Sixth and<BR>D Streets, the Third Street intersection has houses on<BR>it!
<DIV></DIV>.
<DIV></DIV>These houses, especially the ones closest to<BR>Mountain View, will experience great difficulty in<BR>exiting their driveways. Furthermore, the two houses<BR>that sit across Paradise Creek on the corner of Third<BR>and S. Roosevelt Streets have driveways that are on<BR>the creek side of the property. These two houses will<BR>also experience difficulties exiting their driveways<BR>with a bridge next to them. <BR><BR>The honest truth of the matter is that it does not<BR>take long to get anywhere in Moscow, 5 to 10 minutes<BR>tops. That does not constitute a traffic problem. <BR>Some may argue that we need more east/west<BR>connectivity. Welcome to D, 6th and State 8. And<BR>welcome to proper planning for arterials in new<BR>subdivisions (actually, White Avenue in the Salisbury<BR>Subdivision is a good example of this). You may also<BR>hear about winter
and how 3rd street is the only<BR>reasonable way east when it snows. Try again... 3rd<BR>street funct!
<DIV></DIV>ions just
<DIV></DIV>fine as a neighborhood collector<BR>and serves this function to Hayes Street, right at<BR>Hayes, left at 6th and Mountain View here we come<BR>DURING THE WINTER, on bad days, when 6th street is<BR>impassable, etc. People can easily use State 8 to get<BR>to Mountain View if east of Mountain View is the<BR>destination... a straight-line path is not required!
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<DIV>If you are against the Third Street extension, I invite you to not just talk about it here. Get involved writing letters to the City Council members and the Mayor. Perhaps even the school board and superintendent. They need to hear from the citizenry that this is a bad idea. Don't wait until it is already a done deal and then choose to complain about it. Do something about it now. Don't wait for the city to let us all know about what is going on. They have proven to us time and time again that they do not value what the citizens want. They rarely ask for our input and don't get me started about their communication. They only communicate to the extent of what is minimally required by law. Did you know that that a regularly scheduled public meeting only has to have the agenda posted for
it 48 hrs in advance at the site of the meeting? They are not required to post the! </DIV> agendas
<DIV></DIV>on the City web site.
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<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV>Anyway, I am new to this list and am done with my rant. Thanks for listening. <BR></DIV>
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<DIV>-Tom Ivie<BR></DIV>
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