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Politics & Government

Traffic Commission Discussion Centers on Traffic Restrictions

Commission Members also discussed rules of order and procedure.

The hour-long meeting of the Traffic Commission Wednesday night at City Hall had two major discussions: the rules of order and procedure of the commission and citizen petitions of traffic flow restrictions on Quendo and Teasdale avenues.

After approving the minutes from the April 13, 2011 meeting, the commission discussed the rules of order and procedure of the commission. The discussion was an opportunity for commission members to have their comments incorporated into the procedure of the commission.

Sharon Logan, a resident of 1300 block of Waldron petitioned the commission to have a “No Thru Traffic to Midland Blvd.,” sign to be placed facing north at the intersection of Quendo and Canton avenues.

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“This request is to attend to the unnecessary traffic that drives south on the 1400 block of Quendo, coming from Canton or the 1500 block of Quendo to get to Midland Boulevard,” Logan said.

Logan made the request for the safety of the residents of the neighborhood. To place a sign at that intersection, the Section 10.36.190 of municipal code of University City would need to be amended.

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The Public Works Department finding recommends that a petition of 70% of the property owners on the block is needed for the request to be considered. The department further asked the commission to examine whether such a petition is required. The University City Police Department would also conduct a collection of speed data and traffic counts to determine whether a speed limit sign could also be placed at that intersection.

Traffic Commissioner Melcine Henderson proposed that the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic “check out the light, and see if we can do some improvement with the signal light at Midland and Canton on a trial basis.” 

“They don’t change many things,” Commissioner Stefany Brot said about her experience with St. Louis County. “It would make it two more months before anything would get done.”

The commission voted to have a study done on the intersection in conjunction with Logan having the petition signed by 70% of the residents of the affected streets.

The last petitioner was Michael McMurtrey of the 7400 block of Teasdale who wanted to have the street closed on either end of the 7400 block to reduce the amount of traffic that use his block to avoid using Delmar. In his petition he said “there is a large amount of traffic using [the] 7400 [block of] Teasdale to avoid the traffic lights at Jackson and Delmar.” He explains that drivers see the light at Delmar is red and use Teasdale to get to Hanley and then finally onto Delmar.

The Public Works department ruled out closing either end of Teasdale in its assessment of the request because emergency vehicles, snow plowing services, and trash collection services need access to both ends of the street.

The department recommended that McMurtrey obtain signatures from 70% of residents on his block to consider the request.

The Commission voted to approve the public works department’s recommendation of McMurtrey to obtain 70% of his neighbors’ signatures and adjourned at 7:30pm. The next Traffic Commission meeting is July 13th.

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