Council to convene Monday work session on First Avenue road diet

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The project of converting Frist Avenue in Perry from four to three lanes was the topic of a Perry City Council work session Monday. More public meetings are planned on the project.

Present at the October 2018 approval of the road-diet plan were, seated from left, Perry City Council member Chuck Schott, Perry Mayor John Andorf and Perry City Clerk Paula Rychnovsky; standing from left, Perry City Council member Dr. Randy McCaulley, Perry Finance Officer Susie Stoner Moorhead, Perry City Council member Barb Wolling, Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson and Perry City Council members Vicki Klein and Dean Berkland.

The Perry City Council will hold a work session at 10:30 a.m. Monday on the second floor of the Town/Craft building at 1124 Willis Ave. in order to hear from Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) traffic engineers and discuss the First Avenue road-diet plan.

The council narrowly approved moving ahead with the redesign effort by a three-to-two vote last October. When carried through, the project would see an asphalt overlay applied to Iowa Highway 144 (First Avenue) and the in-town portion of the roadway converted from four lanes to three lanes, a configuration already seen at the intersection of First and Willis avenues.

The project would be wholly paid for by DOT Traffic Safety Improvement Program (TSIP) dollars and would cost Perry taxpayers virtually nothing.

The redesign of the First-and-Willis intersection was completed in the spring 2016 and has been the location of fewer and less severe accidents as a result, according to the Perry Police Department.

Transportation planners sometimes refer to such lane reductions as “road diets.” They offer a relatively low-cost way to improve the safety of a roadway without rebuilding it. Safety studies by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) show road diets can reduce overall crashes anywhere from 20 percent to nearly 50 percent, particularly among drivers under 35 years old and over 65.

According to the FHA’s road diet informational guide, “Road diets can reduce the vehicle speed differential and vehicle interactions, which can reduce the number and severity of vehicle-to-vehicle crashes.”

Proponents of the project point to a mountain of DOT data supporting the claim of increased safety. Fewer lanes mean fewer conflict points, Ferrier said, and an isolated turning lane reduces weaving and promotes traffic flow.

Alternative transportation advocates also like road diets because they often integrate bicyclists, public transit and pedestrians. Designated bike lanes and sidewalks can be layered on the outside of the travel lanes, but Perry’s outer lanes will be programmed as shoulders.

Many of the most common objections to road diets were discussed at the time of the 2016 redesign of the First-and-Willis intersection by the city’s engineering consuktant Matt Ferrier of Bolton and Menk, Perry Police Department Chief Eric Vaughn and Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson.

The Monday work session is open to the public.

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