Why are the traffic lights being taken down?

[J Hrlec]

Well now I've been stuck behind people at Mars and at Manor Park who didn't realize the lights would be gone and who had the notion that they would be turning left-- when I was on Mars yesterday I was late for picking up one of my kids and it was agonizing, so I made a mental note: Never go down that street again, even if I am turning right, because the person in front of me might want to turn left. So that's less traffic there, I guess. More at Arthur. more at Elmwood? At that hour Elmwood is full of cars turning into Grant, so that one's also not going to work. The traffic isn't going to go away. I wonder if when they do the studies they think about the alternate routes that cars will be forced to take, and whether if they eliminate enough signals, cars will be lined up across the train tracks-- stuff like that-- I guess we'll see how it goes.

For me, these changes make Lakewood no less walkable... if anything it encourages me to walk a block more to end up generally in the same area across the street.

I'm more concerned about people getting electrocuted when trying to trigger lights to use existing cross-walks:

Hi J--

Yeah that looks pretty scary. Which intersection is that?

And you're right, pedestrians will all get to do a lot more walking-- as they head to whatever light is available, which might be pleasant when the weather is good and the streets are shoveled, and this has been a good winter for it. I guess by walkable I meant that it was easy to get around the city on foot, efficiently, but more exercise is good. I think the interesting thing to do will be to observer whether pedestrian and car traffic can absorb these changes-- our population is lower than last time our traffic signal situation was evaluated. It will be interesting to see if it makes getting around easier or better.

Betsy Voinovich

The pic is from the cross walk by 5 guys that goes across to Marc's plaza. Haven't been there in the last week so not sure if this was a "temp" problem.

[Bill Trentel]

Smile as you J walk.

We'll all need to remember need to remember that next time.

I just noticed this surveillance camera mounted on the pole in front of H&R Block yesterday morning. I'm not sure if it is new but I'm usually pretty aware of such things an since I use that intersection several time a day... I know the one in front of Rozi's has been in place for several months. I live on Mars and work at Cook and Detroit I guess the LPD has my back all the way to work and back.

Is this to monitor the illegal street crossing or the library. We all know the type of people who use the the library. Those book learn'n elitists.

As a auto driver and cyclists I don't miss the light. As a pedestrian it stinks. I would recommend adding a cross walk be drivers in NE Ohio do not stop for those.

Bill

[Christina McCallum]

That damaged cross walk activator button was not repaired, at least as of yesterday morning when I crossed at the 5 Guys/Cerny Shoes crossing. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the walk signal actually worked without a mechanism to prompt it. I would prefer that all lights with crosswalks automatically change with the traffic signals; so many do not work well with the button or like this are beyond use.

Maybe the person who damaged it purposefully did it so the walk signal automatically changes with each traffic signal change! If so, they need to work on the aesthetic end of things!

[Bill Trentel]

I sent one of my sons down to Drug Mart this afternoon and he tells me that there was a cop stationed at the Mars and Detroit corner enforcing the new DO NOT CROSS HERE SIGNS. It should tell them (our fine leaders) something, that if they actually need to place a cop there on a Sunday afternoon in Febraury, maybe they need some sort of accommodations for pedestrians at that corner. What is the hourly rate for a cop less then a light?
I don't get our leaders thinking, the Lakeland corner warrants the extra funds for a light due to the new CVS but the revamped and hopefully successful Drug Mart / Mars plaza does not? I can't wait to see what that intersection is like on market nights this summer. They'll probably need to call out the SWAT team.

Bill

[Jim DeVito]

I sent one of my sons down to Drug Mart this afternoon and he tells me that there was a cop stationed at the Mars and Detroit corner enforcing the new DO NOT CROSS HERE SIGNS.

Cleveland Clinic has an officer 12 hours a day at the crossing of Euclid and 98th. (not sure if that is right, I know it it as the JJ building) He keeps people from jay walking across Euclid. I think it is common for authorities to think we need saving from ourselves...

[Jim O'Bryan]

I sent one of my sons down to Drug Mart this afternoon and he tells me that there was a cop stationed at the Mars and Detroit corner enforcing the new DO NOT CROSS HERE SIGNS.

Cleveland Clinic has an officer 12 hours a day at the crossing of Euclid and 98th. (not sure if that is right, I know it it as the JJ building) He keeps people from jay walking across Euclid. I think it is common for authorities to think we need saving from ourselves...

Jim

But at some point, the reason we were given for the lights coming down, COST, is going to be moot.

FWIW


.

[J Hrlec]

I sent one of my sons down to Drug Mart this afternoon and he tells me that there was a cop stationed at the Mars and Detroit corner enforcing the new DO NOT CROSS HERE SIGNS.

Cleveland Clinic has an officer 12 hours a day at the crossing of Euclid and 98th. (not sure if that is right, I know it it as the JJ building) He keeps people from jay walking across Euclid. I think it is common for authorities to think we need saving from ourselves...

Jim

But at some point, the reason we were given for the lights coming down, COST, is going to be moot.

FWIW


.

It also quite possible that after several weeks of these lights being removed and life going on as usual, this conversation will become moot as well.

[Bill Call]

I sent one of my sons down to Drug Mart this afternoon and he tells me that there was a cop stationed at the Mars and Detroit corner enforcing the new DO NOT CROSS HERE SIGNS.

Cleveland Clinic has an officer 12 hours a day at the crossing of Euclid and 98th. (not sure if that is right, I know it it as the JJ building) He keeps people from jay walking across Euclid. I think it is common for authorities to think we need saving from ourselves...

When people complain about overactive government they sometimes use the term fascistic or communistic. The better term is technocratic. The technocrat has infinite faith in the ability of technocrats to micromanage the economy and human behavior. If things don't turn out as predicted it's not faulty policy or ideology but faulty people.

The Cleveland Clinic would have been wiser to put a cross walk at the crossing people use most rather than hire police officers to force people to cross somewhere else.

The City of Cleveland painted a cross walk on Clifton around 114th to make it easier for people to cross the street. The City of Lakewood needs to do the same at Mars and Detroit. Clifton is a State Route as is Detroit so I don't see why it can't be done. Of course the City of Cleveland allows rush hour parking on Lake (which works very well) while residents of Lakewood are forced to play Russian Roulete every morning.

If this is such a walkable community why are all street improvements dedicated to making it harder to walk and instead make it easier to race through on your way to Rocky River?

I suspect two lights were removed because somewhere it is written that traffic studies must find lights to be removed. Mars and Detroit was picked just because.

And yes, nothing will be done and the hullaballoo will whither away.

[Grace O'Malley]

If this is such a walkable community why are all street improvements dedicated to making it harder to walk and instead make it easier to race through on your way to Rocky River?

Exactly!

[Bill Trentel]

The City of Cleveland painted a cross walk on Clifton around 114th to make it easier for people to cross the street. The City of Lakewood needs to do the same at Mars and Detroit. Clifton is a State Route as is Detroit so I don't see why it can't be done. Of course the City of Cleveland allows rush hour parking on Lake (which works very well) while residents of Lakewood are forced to play Russian Roulete every morning.

A marked cross walk would be nice, but the most it would do would be to legalize crossing the street. Auto drivers in NE Ohio don't stop for pedestrians in cross walks so it wouldn't be any safer.

We where given the rationale, that we are keeping the light at Lakeland at our (the city's) cost was because of the expected increased traffic created by the new CVS. Why wasn't the same thinking (or lack of) applied to the Mars intersection with the revitalized Drug Mart/Mars Plaza happening? When they remove the angled parking on the north side don't they think the people parking in the south side angled spots will be looking to cross the street. Will they be walking to Elmwood to cross, yah right. I'm sure they created a computer model in Columbus that has it all worked out. At ODOT it is all about the car and sprawling suburbs, so they probably don't even have the pedestrian plug-in for their software. Of course our local leaders don't have the _ _ _ _ _ to challenge the system.

Bill

[Bill Call]

At ODOT it is all about the car and sprawling suburbs, so they probably don't even have the pedestrian plug-in for their software. Of course our local leaders don't have the _ _ _ _ _ to challenge the system.

Bill

There is no reason to remove the light and pedestrain crossing by the library. Someone in Columbus simply picked it out because traffic studies have to justify their cost and they justify the cost by removing traffic lights.

There are a lot of reasons to keep a light at Mars and Detroit. If CVS needs a traffic light at Lakeland let CVS pay for it. The money saved can be used to install a traffic light by the Library where the people of Lakewood need it.

Of course none of this is going to happen. The light at Mars is coming down, the CVS light at Lakeland is going up and in a couple of weeks the 2,500 or so people who read this post will go back to sleep which is the reason "none of this is going to happen".

PS: I was on my way to Independence today to pick up a permit and I noticed 7 or so cross walks with lights in an area where not 10 people a day walk cross the street. The State of Ohios List of Priorities are a mystery to me. The only thing I know for sure is that Lakewood is not on the list.

[Bill Call]

As I left the Library last night I noticed 6 people attempting to cross the street by Mars and Detroit to get to the Library from Drug Mart.

The "Do Not Cross Here" signs are an example of regionalism at its finast. Some guy in Columbus who has never been to Lakewood wants to make it a crime to cross the street to get to the Library. The same guy wants the residents of the Westerly and North Westerly to walk an extra 1/2 mile to get to the bank.

[Will Brown]

One wonders why people who apparently can't find their way to the light at Arthur would want to go to the library.

[Bill Call]

One wonders why people who apparently can't find their way to the light at Arthur would want to go to the library.

When they built the Tri-C Campus in Parma back in the 70's the sidewalks were installed long after the building was finished. The designers waited to see which paths students took to get the the building before the walkways were installed. Rather than try to force people to walk where they didn't want to walk in order to get where they wanted to go they built the walks where people walked.

The other theory is the one practiced by the Clinic at its main campus. They try to force people to walk out of their way to get where they want to go and then hire security guards to make sure people do it.

Cities that are considered walkable have one thing in common: high density construction that allows people to walk where they want to go with minimum effort.

Yes, the hundreds of people who use to walk across the street from Drug Mart to get to the library can walk an extra couple of hundred feet to get where they want to go and yes the people of the Westerly can walk an extra 1/4 mile to get to the bank but why should they have to?

If you want to sell this town as a walkable community then it should actually be walkable.