Near West Side

 Traffic Calming on 7th St. in the Near West Side Neighborhood (NWSN)
Frequently Asked Questions
 

1. Why do we need traffic calming on W. 7th St?

NWSN is touted as a walkable neighborhood, but it doesn’t feel safe to walk along the sidewalk when cars whiz by a foot away. (See photo of traffic accident.) The north side of West 7th Street from Maple Street westward has neither a green strip nor parked cars to act as a buffer between the curb and the sidewalk for foot traffic. Children walk to Fairview School. Banneker Community Center, and Girls, Inc., plus there are many walkers most times of the day and night. In the recent past several pets have been killed by automobiles on West 7th Street.
 
When members of the NWSNA canvassed the neighborhood about this issue, several bike riders commented that West 7th Street, supposedly part of the city bike trail, feels unsafe for riding due to the fast, close traffic, and even more so at dawn and dusk.
 
 
Construction on 5th Street (Kirkwood), which took place a few years ago and traffic calming measures on the W. 6th Street diverted early morning and late afternoon traffic to West 7th Street. Neighbors living along the W. 7th Street have experienced an increase in the volume and the speed of traffic as a result. Many cars use W. 7th St. as a convenient shortcut between downtown Bloomington and Hwy. 37.
 

2. What is a “walkable” neighborhood?

Some residents of NWSN have chosen to live in a core neighborhood, with its smaller and closer together houses, so we can walk or bike to work, the grocery store, restaurants and shops downtown. We have sacrificed some things and gained others by living right in town, with one benefit being to free ourselves from the car culture. If you have chosen to use a car, please tread lightly if you come through our neighborhood.
 

3. What will traffic calming involve?

Traffic calming measures will be similar to those installed on West 6th Street, with small traffic circles where West 7th Street intersects with Waldron and Oak Streets. In addition there will be traffic islands at West 7th Street and Rogers and West 7th Street and Adams Street. The islands are not intended to interfere with traffic on either Rogers or Adams Streets, but to signal the entrance to the neighborhood and to slow down traffic.
 

4. How do I make a left turn at a traffic calming circle?

These are not roundabouts. If there is no oncoming traffic, just turn left in front of the circle; you do not have to drive 270 degrees around the circle to make a left turn.
 

5. Will emergency vehicles be slowed down by the traffic circles and dividers?

No, we are using the small and low circles with drivable curbs, like the ones recently installed on 6th St. The city engineer told us that emergency vehicles drive over the edges of these circles without a delay to reach their targets with no reduction in response time. Such circles were redone on the 6th Street in 2007 to accommodate the emergency vehicles as the research in this field has recommended.
 

6. Why not just add STOP signs?

Stop signs would not serve their function unless there is actual enforcement by police patrol cars over a long stretch of time, which cannot be expected due to the high demands for their services for other things. Given the current norm of “no cop, no stop,” stop signs will not deter drivers who use Vernal Pike to and from Highway 37 routes to reach downtown as fast as they can. Also STOP signs create more braking noise in the neighborhood, along with extra engine deceleration and acceleration. Traffic circles slow the traffic without creating so much noise and pollution.
 

7. Who is organizing this effort?

Near Westside Neighborhood Association members spent many hours going door to door to get signatures to initiate the traffic calming ballot. During the referendum, we knocked at the doors at least once of every house/apartment in the Near Westside Neighborhood (250 plus or minus residences) to inform our neighbors about the referendum and answer questions.
 
We are elected representatives and dedicated volunteers who meet monthly (Banneker Center, second Mondays at 6pm--all neighbors are welcome to attend ) to make NWSN a better, safer, more sustainable place to live, and where the people's voices can be heard. We recently organized the well attended neighborhood clean-up, participated in school board hearings to determine the future of Fairview School, and are putting the finishing touches on a website for both our neighborhood and Prospect Hill neighborhood [www.nearwestside.org]. In the near future we anticipate improvements such as a fitness trail and more native species in Rev. Butler Park, and researching the history of White Oak Cemetery. Contact us at NWSNA@yahoo.com.