By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – With the school zone signage installed and the stacked inbound lanes completed at Eisenhower Elementary School, that has helped with traffic around the Warsaw school, the city’s Traffic Safety Commission heard Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Dr. David Robertson, Warsaw Community Schools assistant superintendent of elementary education, thanked the city and Street Superintendent Dustin Dillon and his team.

“I know they worked hard at the end of the summer to get a third lane in for stacking on Dwight Drive there. So the issue that we dealt with throughout the year last year was a lot of traffic stacking on (County Road) 200 South in the westbound lane. At the end of the school day specifically was our toughest time,” he said. 

“We really believe that, for the most part, this third lane has eliminated stacking on 200 South. If there’s ever been a time where we’ve ever had just a handful of cars stacked there, they’ve been in the turnout level that we have there, so it really has alleviated a lot of the stacking at the times when it would cover part of 200 South.”

Robertson said it’s created a safer situation for patrons picking up their children from school.

“By all measures, the first three weeks of school turned out really a successful situation,” he said. 

Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs said Eric Hoffhein put up signs for the 35 mph speed limit eastbound for the school zone.

Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said that brings up another issue. She said she received a letter about people turning around in the housing addition on CR 200S. 

Robertson said he received a request from a group of Eisenhower parents to get rid of the right-turn out and right-turn in only on Dwight Drive now that the stacking road is in place. He said those right-turns-only required parents driving eastbound to go down to the neighborhoods to turn around.

“My one concern would be if somebody’s trying to turn left into Eisenhower heading eastbound on 200, and they’re waiting to turn in, would that stack up all the way back to Ranch Road?” he said. 

The neighborhood in that area has really borne the brunt of that traffic over the last year, he said, noting that he might be willing to try eliminating the right-turns only. 

Dobbins said, as she’s understood it, there’s actually been damage to people’s property from vehicles turning around in the housing addition.

Dillon said, “The biggest issue is that there’s not another road to turn around at. They’re either going clear down to Country Club or ducking off into one of these additions.”

Warsaw Police Department Capt. Joel Beam asked Dobbins if she knew if the residents did anything to let drivers know they don’t want them to turn around on their property. Dobbins said she didn’t know. 

Grubbs pointed out the additions on the south side of CR 200S were in the county, not the city limits. 

The Commission decided to see how the changes continue to affect traffic around Eisenhower Elementary School and revisit the issue at their Oct. 5 meeting. 

Dobbins brought a number of traffic concerns up to the Commission from concerned citizens.

The first one was from a resident who said there was an accident at the intersection of Maple and Market Streets where a vehicle ended up in his yard and did some damage. It was his observation, Dobbins said, that many drivers traveling on Maple Street think it’s a four-way stop. The resident suggested the city put up little yellow signs under the stop signs indicating that cross traffic does not stop.

Dillon said he looked at the intersection of Maple and Market and there’s not really a visibility issue there and it’s very wide open. He didn’t think it was any different from any other north/south street that goes from Market to Center Streets. 

Beam said there’s only been five crashes at the intersection in the last three years, which is not bad at all. 

The Commission didn’t take any action but will keep an eye on the intersection.

The next concern Dobbins brought up was the intersection of Indiana and Main Streets. The last two parking spots along Main Street near Indiana have been blackened out, and Dobbins said that really helps drivers see oncoming traffic from the east. 

Beam said at the intersection of Indiana and Main over the last three years, there’s only been six crashes. He provided Commission members with a criteria list from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for all-way stops. Part of the manual states that the decision to install multi-way stop control should be based on an engineering study. 

Grubbs said they will keep an eye on the intersection.

On the intersection of Fort Wayne and Indiana Streets, Beam said there’s only been two crashes in the last three years. Grubbs said that intersection does not warrant a four-way stop. 

At the Aug. 3 Commission meeting, residents of Belle Augusta requested speed limit signs in the subdivision. Dillon put three signs up and said he hasn’t heard any complaints since then. 

Beam said he had speed data from that. The speed board was up for eight days and it counted 1,700 cars, “which is probably higher than anyone thought,” and that was in one direction. The average speed was 17 mph, with the highest speed at 38 mph. The speed limit is 30. The 85% average was 21 mph. 

“I’m happy overall with that,” he said.

In other business, the Commission:

• Tabled a request from AkzoNobel for a pedestrian crossing, not at an intersection, from the front of the factory to the parking lot. There are no sidewalks out there and the Commission has not approved a crosswalk previously that didn’t go from a sidewalk to a sidewalk. 

• Tabled discussion on a stop sign for Bison Street in downtown Warsaw. 

• Heard that the parking control officer is good at making sure parking tickets are paid. Dobbins brought up concerns from downtown merchants about whether or not issued parking tickets were paid or not.

There’s a set amount of time for them to be paid before the first letter is sent to the parking offender, Beam said. Then a second letter is sent if the ticket(s) aren’t paid. If a ticket isn’t paid, it’s sent to the city attorney for collections. Beam noted that, in the past, cars have been booted. 

• Approved the 2022-23 crossing guards, trained annually by WPD, as presented by Robertson. WCS has crossing guards at all of its schools except Eisenhower, Leesburg Elementary School and Warsaw Community High School. The school board also approves the certified crossing guards list annually.