Township will seek to add new traffic lights - Centerville Bellbrook Times (09.06.06)
Township will seek to add new traffic lights - Centerville Bellbrook Times (09.06.06)
By Jim Good
Times Staff Writer
Times Staff Writer
A recent traffic fatality in Washington Township has prompted renewed efforts to get a traffic light installed at Miamisburg-Centerville Road and Garnet Drive.
After the automobile death of a six-year-old girl on July 26 at the intersection of Miamisburg-Centerville road/Garnet Drive, township officials are once again petitioning the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to allow the township to place a traffic light at that dangerous intersection, said Tom Toberen, deputy administrator. The township has petitioned ODOT, the department that has the final say, to get a traffic light placed there as far back as 1989.
Toberen said that in 1989, the township sent a letter to ODOT requesting that a study be done to see if a traffic light was warranted at that intersection. ODOT responded back in 1990 that they were too busy to undertake that study, but that the township could hire someone to do the study.
That same year, the township hired Richard Oaks, a local engineer who worked with ODOT on the timing system at the traffic lights at Miamisburg-Centerville Road and McEwen Road. Oaks determined that a traffic light in fornt of the recreation center met ODOT's requirements for a traffic-light placement.
In 1992, ODOT decided to do its own study and determined that a Miamisburg-Centerville road/Garnet Drive traffic light. That request was once again turned down.
Presently, Toberen said the township wants to hire oaks again to do another study, this time concerning, among others, traffic counts and signal-timing, to once again be submitted to ODOT.
Another dangerous intersection in need of a traffic light is at McEwen Road and Congress Park Drive. Toberen said the township received a grant for approximately $70,000 through the State of Ohio for such a purpose. the township will use that grant and pay approximately $20,000 to $30,000 out of township funds to place a traffic light there. An engineer will be hired to design the traffic light. Construction will begin some time next year.
Two other areas in the township that are scheduled to get traffic lights are the intersections of Normandy Lane and Spring Valley Pike and Atchison Road and Spring Valley Pike.
The traffic lights at Normandy Lane/Spring Valley Pike are already installed and should be operational soon. The lights at Atchison Road/Spring Valley Pike will be built once an agreement between the city of Centerville, Washington Township and Montgomery County comes to terms over maintenance issues and costs. Toberen said plans are being finalized now, bids will be taken this fall and that construction will begin the first half of next year.
After the automobile death of a six-year-old girl on July 26 at the intersection of Miamisburg-Centerville road/Garnet Drive, township officials are once again petitioning the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to allow the township to place a traffic light at that dangerous intersection, said Tom Toberen, deputy administrator. The township has petitioned ODOT, the department that has the final say, to get a traffic light placed there as far back as 1989.
Toberen said that in 1989, the township sent a letter to ODOT requesting that a study be done to see if a traffic light was warranted at that intersection. ODOT responded back in 1990 that they were too busy to undertake that study, but that the township could hire someone to do the study.
That same year, the township hired Richard Oaks, a local engineer who worked with ODOT on the timing system at the traffic lights at Miamisburg-Centerville Road and McEwen Road. Oaks determined that a traffic light in fornt of the recreation center met ODOT's requirements for a traffic-light placement.
In 1992, ODOT decided to do its own study and determined that a Miamisburg-Centerville road/Garnet Drive traffic light. That request was once again turned down.
Presently, Toberen said the township wants to hire oaks again to do another study, this time concerning, among others, traffic counts and signal-timing, to once again be submitted to ODOT.
Another dangerous intersection in need of a traffic light is at McEwen Road and Congress Park Drive. Toberen said the township received a grant for approximately $70,000 through the State of Ohio for such a purpose. the township will use that grant and pay approximately $20,000 to $30,000 out of township funds to place a traffic light there. An engineer will be hired to design the traffic light. Construction will begin some time next year.
Two other areas in the township that are scheduled to get traffic lights are the intersections of Normandy Lane and Spring Valley Pike and Atchison Road and Spring Valley Pike.
The traffic lights at Normandy Lane/Spring Valley Pike are already installed and should be operational soon. The lights at Atchison Road/Spring Valley Pike will be built once an agreement between the city of Centerville, Washington Township and Montgomery County comes to terms over maintenance issues and costs. Toberen said plans are being finalized now, bids will be taken this fall and that construction will begin the first half of next year.
Toberen said the township now installs mast-arm poles as opposed to the wire-to-pole construction on former traffic lights. The mast-arm poles consist of a main pole with another pole up top that juts out at a perpendicular angle while holding the light signals directly to the pole. this type of traffic light design is recommended in the township's street enhancement guidelines.