<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1555" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>regarding the accident-waiting-to-happen where
students are crossing the Moscow-Pullman highway between the UI and the
apartments on A Street.....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The reason this problem is surfacing now is the
negligence of the previous City Council. That A Street area was zoned
commercial, and the previous council just couldn't say NO when developers wanted
to put apartments there.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, we all have to deal with the problems that
have resulted from that bad decision-making.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>BL</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=timlohr@yahoo.com href="mailto:timlohr@yahoo.com">Tim Lohrmann</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=godshatter@yahoo.com
href="mailto:godshatter@yahoo.com">Paul Rumelhart</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:04
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Crosswalks near
Wendys & in general</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV> Visionseekers,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Mr. Rumelhart makes some good points. </DIV>
<DIV> The pedestrian crossings on that part of
the Pullman road really can be pretty scary. </DIV>
<DIV> Worrisome is right. </DIV>
<DIV> There have been new crossing signs with flags put up on the
road in a couple of places and that's great. But,
unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have helped the situation all
that much. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Several on here have likely had some close
calls.</DIV>
<DIV> Same here. </DIV>
<DIV> The last one happened while returning from the Pullman
at dusk, going the speed limit or a little under. All of a
sudden, a guy in one of those charcoal gray warmup suits was right in front of
me in the middle of the lane. I had to brake really hard and veer over or it
would have been pedestrian crunch time. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The guy wasn't being careful or using a real cross
walk. </DIV>
<DIV> But that wouldn't have been much consolation for
either of us if he'd been thrashing around under my tires--that came within
inches of happening. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> With all the new apartment construction out that way,
maybe something new does need to be done. More people are crossing
wherever they want...without regard to marked crossings.</DIV>
<DIV> I'm not sure that more jaywalking enforcement is the
answer. I don't think word would get around on that. </DIV>
<DIV> Would some flashing caution lights and reflective traffic
bumps or just reflectors be a good way to mark the crossings? It's a
state highway and that makes it more complicated but it's worth
looking into. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The rest of the crossings on other streets in town need
better marking too.</DIV>
<DIV> It seems like the white paint marking the crossings
wears out so quickly. </DIV>
<DIV> I've been told the ice melt, gravel, sand and snow tires all
do a job on the paint. </DIV>
<DIV> Then after the weather clears up it takes quite a while
for the city to get the markings re-done. </DIV>
<DIV> That's understandable with all that needs doing but the
crossings aren't defined very well in the meantime. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Maybe some different approach--possibly raised marking would
work better. </DIV>
<DIV> I'm sure this would be more expensive in the short
term. But if a different marking system saved
the expense of repainting every year and made the crossings safer it
might make sense. </DIV>
<DIV> TL</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> "Those 'technicalities' have a name, Bobby. They're called
the Bill Of Rights."</DIV>
<DIV>
----Hank Hill</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> <BR><BR><B><I>Paul Rumelhart
<godshatter@yahoo.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">My
apologies if this has been discussed here before, but I wanted to <BR>state
my opinions on this.<BR><BR>I worry that someday some person (probably a
college student) is going <BR>to be seriously injured or killed at this
crosswalk. It has all the <BR>makings of a death trap. It's on one of the
few four-lane streets <BR>(five, really) around with a
higher-than-average-in-Moscow speed limit. <BR>I've seen so many drivers
just cruise on through without even thinking <BR>about it being a crosswalk,
and I've also seen people just pop up from <BR>the slight incline that leads
to it's entrance on the UI side and just <BR>start hoofing it across the
road. I'm aware of the dangers here, and <BR>watch it closely, and I've
still been surprised to find someone in the <BR>crosswalk there. They either
popped up like we're playing whack-a-mole <BR>from the UI side or they were
hidden by the other cars that were just <BR>blithely driving through the
crosswalk ahead of them or behind them. <BR>The signs are nice, but they are
not enough.<BR><BR>I appreciate the need for a crosswalk there, since you
either have to <BR>jaywalk or walk a block in either direction or more to
get to a valid <BR>crosswalk. As it stands, though, I think we'd be safer
letting them <BR>jaywalk - at least they would be cautious of the traffic.
With a legal <BR>crosswalk there, the old UI-taught behavior of "just walk
out there, <BR>they'll stop" appears to kick in.<BR><BR>Some minor
suggestions that might help would include a yellow light <BR>suspended over
the crosswalk, or maybe spotlights on both sides so we <BR>can see better at
night, or possibly a concrete "staging platform" that <BR>is easily visible
amongst the grass so we have a better idea where to <BR>look ahead of time.
A better idea would probably be to just put a light <BR>there, one that
turns red only if a pedestrian pushes the button.<BR><BR>Anyone have any
other ideas? Are there plans for something to happen <BR>there that just
haven't been completed
yet?<BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>=====================================================<BR>List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>serving the communities
of the Palouse since 1994. <BR>http://www.fsr.net
<BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>====================================================<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<P>
<HR SIZE=1>
Want to be your own boss? Learn how on <A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=41244/*http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index">Yahoo!
Small Business.</A>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>=====================================================<BR> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<BR>
http://www.fsr.net
<BR>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>====================================================<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>