By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW –  Warsaw Traffic Commission unanimously voted Wednesday, June 1, to establish a 35 mph speed limit on CR 200S along Eisenhower Elementary during school hours. 

Speed limit signs will be posted on Ranch Road going northbound and eastbound on 200S to make drivers aware of the 35 mph limit during school hours. Signs are already posted in the other directions. 

The Commission has been discussing traffic safety around Eisenhower for a number of months, and at its May meeting discussed reducing the speed from 45 mph all along the school area on CR 200S. Ranch Road/South County Farm Road on the west side of the school already is a school zone. 

David Robertson, Warsaw Community Schools assistant superintendent of elementary education, who also is a member of the Traffic Commission, said, “I wanted to propose that, there is a school zone currently around Eisenhower but we’re working with the county about potentially expanding it to the east on 200, but, in the meantime, we would like to make a request to have the school zone speed limit put into place. That would reduce it to 35 mph on 200 South.”

He said WCS feels that reducing the speed really would help with some of the traffic issues in the area. 

Dustin Dillon, Warsaw public works superintendent, said, “It wouldn’t truly change the speed limit. The speed limit is already set to go 10 miles under what the posted speed limit is, so it’s not in fact changing the speed limit. Just during school hours, it would drop, is already dropped 10 mph to 35. So we’ll just post speed limit signs letting them know during school hours it is 35 mph, not 45.”

Capt. Joel Beam, Warsaw Police Department, said on 200S there is only a sign going westbound and he recommended putting a sign up going eastbound. He said there’s also not a sign going northbound on County Farm Road. 

City Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins added, “I would certainly put in favor of making that change and putting the signs up for 35 mph.”

Councilman Jack Wilhite asked if it needed to go before the City Council and Beam said it did not. Wilhite made a motion to approve the speed limit and signs, Dobbins seconded it and it was approved. 

Market & McKinley

In other matters, the commission has been looking into an increase in crashes at Market and McKinley streets this year. Traffic has been rerouted in that area due to construction related to the roundabout at Argonne Road and Winona Avenue. 

Beam said he looked at past crash reports and in 2020 and 2021, there were three crashes. In the first five months of this year, there have been four crashes. 

“One of the reasons for that is because of the construction for the roundabout in Winona Lake,” he said. 

The construction is diverting over 10,000 cars a day off Argonne Road and into the Market/McKinley neighborhood to get around. 

“Some people can avoid it altogether, but if you live relatively close to there, you’re kind of forced to go through there. So with an increase in traffic, you’re going to have an increase in crashes,” Beam stated.

He said if there was something temporary that could be done, that was up to the Traffic Commission. 

Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs said the traffic status has changed right now, but asked if it would go back to its same pattern once the construction is completed. 

Beam said he was told that Argonne Road would be kept open during the construction of the roundabout. 

City engineer Aaron Ott said that was relatively accurate.

“There continues to be a negotiation between the contractor and Winona Lake and (Indiana Department of Transportation) on finalizing what they’re going to allow,” Ott said. “It’s basically, Winona Lake has a plan that favors traffic flows and keeps two-way traffic and all lanes open. … The contractor wants to do a little more restricting of traffic in favor of efficient construction processes.”

He said that while there’s still negotiation going on there, it sounds like they’re always going to have Argonne Road or McKinley Street open “whereas before, we were looking at a situation where maybe they wanted to keep both of those closed and that was going to create something.”

There is no final determination, Ott said, but it doesn’t appear that there will be a long-term closure of Argonne Road at any time, but that’s still not finalized. 

Wilhite asked if they knew how long the construction on the roundabout will be. Ott said part of the negotiation is that Winona Lake would like to see the contractor agree to a shorter completion cycle if they allow more traffic restrictions. “But the way it’s bid and the way it’s set, they have until October of 2023,” Ott said. The contractor, Phend & Brown, would love to finish it this year but their plan to finish it this year would include more traffic restrictions. 

The ground was broken for utility work and the roundabout construction is slated to start after July 4. 

Dillon said his department went out and put larger “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signs up at both Market and Jefferson along McKinley to make people a little more aware. 

“I don’t know if that’s helped or not. We did that two, three weeks ago. I’m not sure when your accidents actually were,” Dillon said.

The last one was May 19, Beam said, but added that most of the accidents were due to driver inattention. 

Dillon said people are going to have to make themselves aware that there’s a lot of construction going on and he didn’t know if there were any temporary measures that could be taken to make things safer in the area. Grubbs said they’ll have to continue to monitor the situation as it progresses.

Park Ridge Addition

City Planner Justin Taylor said the city was approached by a couple members  of the Park Ridge Home Owners Association about making the south side of Park Ridge Drive a “no parking” area.

Lauren Klusman, Park Ridge HOA board member, said a lot of neighbors in Park Ridge have expressed concern about the safety of Park Ridge Drive, which is the main road that comes off Ranch Road.

“The main reason for that is mostly parking and where people park their cars. We have a lot of people that like to fish in our pond, so this is especially during the summer time because we do have some residents … toward the entrance there are homes along that part there. And they do park on the road quite frequently and almost all of the time that they’re home. So when there are people parked on the non-residential side of the road, it’s hard to see them when you’re coming in and going out because there’s actually quite a decent hill there. So when people are flying around the corner, they missed kids crossing the street or people walking along the road … so it’s very dangerous right in that section,” Klusman said. 

As a way to make it safer, she said their initial thought was to make the non-residential side of the road a “no parking” area. 

After some discussion, Grubbs said there were two options: no parking on the south side of the road or ask the HOA to not allow fishing at the pond. As the HOA has a meeting next week, Klusman will take the options to them for discussion and the Traffic Commission will discuss it again at their July 6 meeting at 1 p.m.