- Delay
- Blame-shifting
- Supposed, speedy solution
- Approval of supposed, speedy solution
- Bureaucrat’s comment immediately after approval of supposed, speedy solution.
- Delay
- Blame-shifting
FREE WHITEWATER, February 17, 2010, from Traffic Lights and Limelights in a Small Town:
Like many small towns, Whitewater, Wisconsin has one main thoroughfare through town, past our college campus, connecting the east and west sides of the city. At the campus, there’s a street named Whiton that runs into Main. At the intersection of the two streets, many college students, faculty, and workers cross from campus to homes. It’s a busy intersection, and has been the site an accident at which a pedestrian was hit by a car.
One solution would be to install a traffic stoplight, and that will, eventually, happen. I write eventually because a pedestrian was hit in August 2008, and there have been nearby accidents since, but we still have no conventional traffic light, to stop traffic. There’s a flashing sign, but no conventional red light that would signal to stop traffic so that one could walk across the street more safely.
Just a moment ago, I wrote that this problem became apparent no later than August 2008, and if that date caught one’s notice, it should have. It’s a year and a half ago.
Predictably, local political leaders want to blame our governor, in Madison, for delaying signing off on an approval for a traffic light. It’s a shameful exercise in blame-shifting. See, Whitewater still waiting on Gov. Doyle to sign off on Main Street traffic light.
Got that? Of course you did – Whitewater would have a light by now, if only Gov. Doyle had been more attentive!
Whitewater Public Works Director Dean Fisher, and Luke Holman, Strand Associates consultant, quoted February 2, 2010, in Whitewater Studies Traffic-Control Devices for Main-Whiton Crossing:
What type of traffic-control device will best ensure pedestrian safety at the intersection of Main and Whiton streets?
That was the main question when the City of Whitewater held a public hearing about upgrades to the crosswalk at Main/Whiton streets.
The session was led by Luke Holman of Strand Associates, the city’s consultant on the issues, with additional information provided by Whitewater Department of Public Works director Dean Fischer….
The intersection project has received a federal grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to cover the estimated $138,000, which is about 90 percent of the project. The city has to cover the other 10 percent, as well as any cost over that 90-percent estimate.
Fischer said the devices cost $270 and need another $2,100 for the computerized controller. The intersection would need a total of eight devices, so the total estimate is about $4,560 if these devices are approved by the council.
Holman said that as soon as the council decides on which device to use, the final project must be reviewed by the Department of Transportation. Next, the project would go out to bid for construction.
Holman estimated it would take about two months to complete the project. The timeline the city is operating under has construction beginning as early as late August.
“Typical signal jobs like this it takes six to 10 weeks to complete,” Holman said.
“Because we are getting federal funds, we have to follow their rules,” Fischer remarked about the timeline after an audience member asked if construction could be completed before school starts in the fall. “Luckily, this is a relatively simple project and we have been able to move this project along by this summer.”
Approval of Traffic Solution, Whitewater Common Council, March 16, 2010:
Remarks from Public Works Director Dean Fisher, immediately after March 16, 2010 Common Council approval of traffic signal, beginning at 46:30 minutes:
Could I make one more comment as long as we’re on that agenda item? It wasn’t in the memo, but there, obviously, the existing pillars and walls as they exist in front of Hyer Hall are very close to the sidewalk and the university has taken it upon themselves to figure out a way to move those, move those out and widen the driveway just a tad, but there is still the significance of the walls that are there, given by a [sic] Class of 1938, and so they’re really looking at some way to move them back so that we can make that whole intersection a whole lot safer for pedestrians and vehicle traffic. I just wanted to make you aware of that.
(Emphasis added.)
Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner, from his April 30, 2010 Weekly Report:
Main/Whiton Intersection Work Will be Delayed until Next Spring
Due primarily to a need to move the historic gateway and entrance walls to the UW-Whitewater campus at the Whiton Street entrance as an integral part of the project, the construction of the long planned improvements to the Main and Whiton Street intersection will now be delayed until next spring.
A couple of months ago while final design plans and specifications were being prepared for this intersection improvement project, both the city and University realized that in order to fully provide for both future pedestrian and vehicular safety at the intersection the gateway and attached walls would need to be moved further north of the intersection. This change in project scope along with a change in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation?s (WisDOT) consulting engineer on this project has pushed back WisDOT?s necessary approvals several months. While the project can still be let for bids this coming fall, there will not be enough time to complete the planned work this year.
Notes:
1. Watch the video immediately before the Council votes, and before Fisher speaks after the vote — there’s a statement that there will be time after installation but before fall budget deliberations to address additional costs from installation, etc. Fisher says nothing before the vote, and nothing concretely afterward, to dispel that notion.
2. Governor Doyle (!), the university, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, etc., — the city’s running out of scapegoats. The installation of this traffic signal will take another year, after a year and a half of waiting already.
3. One should expect more excuses, blame-shifting, and so-called explanations yet to come.