Waverly road weight-reduction plan causes anxiety in town, a few ask for it to be reversed
WAVERLY, IOWA – Waverly’s town council has authorized an “avenue diet,” they modified their whole avenue in the town from four lanes to 3 lanes. But is it effective?
Bremer Avenue transformed into three lanes closing fall. But as visitors’ backups maintain, the weight-reduction plan has become divisive.
Iowans can smile about Chicago or L.A. Site visitors, something they don’t have to fear approximately. But motion pictures displaying gridlock, site visitors, and accidents in Waverly show that the small town might also have big-city headaches.
Matt Schneider became so frustrated with the road food regimen that he created the Facebook Page “Keep Waverly Moving.” He says, “We was once Waverly, Iowa, and the road weight-reduction plan got here via, and now we are Los Angeles, Iowa.”
The road weight-reduction plan is something the metropolis council permitted after talking with the Iowa Department of Transportation. The DOT says safety is the number one motive they desire here.
Pete Hjelmstad says, “We (DOT) noticed styles of injuries going on above the national average that might be addressed with the three-lane food plan, including rear-ends and sideswipes.” He shared a video the DOT created, explaining why they suppose the street diet is safer for the community. Again, click here if you want to see that video.
Hjelmstad says around 20 to 30 different Iowa cities have road diets. But in Waverly, some say the food regimen is too strict.
At Waverly shop, The Clothesline, they are saying, “The avenue eating regimen is something I don’t understand; what I assume is a road tragedy.”
Volunteer firefighters shared pics while being stalled in Bremer Avenue site visitors during a hearth call.
Some have taken their anger to the city council, inquiring for the committee to delight opposite what has been accomplished and trade the lanes back to three lanes. The board says they’re listening and aware of visitors’ backups. They will not change their decision right now, except as a minimum, one member suggests they look at a brand new vote.
Council contributors tell KWWL they stand behind their choice because they consider it safer for the network.
The Iowa DOT says crash numbers are down. Hjelmstad pronounced, “From 2008 to 2016, there had been forty-one crashes on common every 12 months, to this point because the street weight loss plan commenced in October, between October and April thirtieth (6 months), there have been 14 crashes, double that would be 28, so that could be fewer injuries than preceding years.”
Schneider says the DOT is the simplest search at excessive dollar crashes, but now not more minor hits. He thinks the DOT is sharing false records with the public.
The City Council says another problem is about 25 percent more vehicles are touring on Bremer Avenue right now because Adams Parkway Bridge is closed for construction. They consider as soon as the bridge is lower back open, which is scheduled to occur around June twenty-eighth, traffic will drift more easily on Bremer Avenue.
Some commercial enterprise owners don’t agree, saying site visitors became horrific before Adams Parkway closed for construction.
KWWL visited 13 shops alongside Bremer Avenue. Three have desired the three lanes, seven said they selected four lanes, and three were indifferent.
The Mayor asks for the negativity to give up. He says he’s talked with people who don’t like this, causing so much negativity. The DOT says they’re reconfiguring site visitors’ lighting fixtures this week and opening the other bridge very soon, so KWWL hopes to comply with this to see how traffic is after that.
The police department is staying impartial on the topic. The fire chief says they haven’t had enough heart calls to reply to the exchange.