Sylvania Township: Other streets get more traffic

4/20/2005

Greg Price has watched as traffic has increased in front of his Silica Drive home.

Although he's glad for the residents of nearby Whispering Oak who persuaded Sylvania Township officials to change traffic patterns away from their street, he'd like officials to address the increased traffic funneling onto his street and others in the neighborhood.

Silica, which already had heavy traffic use at 1,922 vehicles per day, has experienced an increase to 2,363.

San Luis Rey Drive, which runs in a north-south parallel with Silica, has had traffic jump from 580 vehicles per day to 834, according to traffic counts taken by the Lucas County Engineer's Office.

The cause of the increase is a barricade at the west end of Whispering Oak that prevents drivers from continuing onto King Road. That was the preferred route of drivers who intended to continue south on King or travel west using Brint Road Many of those drivers now take Silica and San Luis Rey to Brint and travel a couple of blocks west to King Road.

The barricade was established on a temporary basis, but township trustees have voted to make it permanent.

Dennis Boyle, chairman of the trustees, said the barricade was established to reduce the increased traffic on Whispering Oak and it has accomplished that goal He agreed, however, that nearby residential neighborhoods have seen an influx of vehicles and that the trustees need to look into the situation.

He wants to put a panel together of Sylvania and township officials, residents and officials from Northview High School and Lourdes College to study the issue.

Traffic from those schools add to the number of vehicles in the area each day. Carol Austin, another Silica Road resident, complained to trustees that not only has traffic increased, but many cars are speeding.

Trustees have asked that township police pay close attention to the area.

Carol Contrada, a township trustee, also asked for studies to determine the effect speed bumps might have and how safety might be enhanced by curbs and sidewalks on the streets.

Ms. Contrada said she was on Silica from 2:20 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. one day and counted 82 cars and 12 buses on the roadway.

Mr. Price said he sees vehicles of all types traveling at various rates of speed everyday on his street.

He asked trustees to consider making his street one-way to keep motorists from using Silica as a shortcut. He acknowledged that it might be an inconvenience, but that it would be preferable to the traffic now on the street.

A potential difficulty is that Silica is a boundary between the city and township, so both entities will have to agree to a change.

Mr. Boyle said that while officials look for solutions for the problems on Silica and San Luis Rey they should also concentrate on the entire area.

Because of growth in the western part of the township, traffic on Brint Road is likely to increase and as a result its feeder streets will also experience more traffic.

He said an overall traffic plan should be coordinated for the area by the city and township.