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Columbiana chief:?Springfield Road traffic not that bad

COLUMBIANA – Things are fine the way they are on Springfield Road, according to Police Chief Tim Gladis.

Gladis told City Council he did a traffic study of the road over two days after a city resident voiced his concerns at the last council meeting.

Jack Baker lives on Springfield Road and said motorists speed along the road to state Route 14 and that a continuous right turn stop sign near the entrance to Firestone Park should be changed to a regular stop sign.

Gladis said he measured traffic speed in the westbound and eastbound lanes using handheld radar for an hour on Friday and Monday. Because he was conducting a study he hid the police cruiser behind some bushes near the entrance to the park pool so as not to interfere with the results, he added.

He noted the top speed of each vehicle as it passed between the entrance and a home on the 500 block of Springfield Road, according to his report.

During the study 162 vehicles passed through – 93 of which were westbound from state Route 14 to East Park Avenue and 69 of which were eastbound from East Park Avenue to state Route 14.

The highest speed recorded for westbound vehicles was 38 miles per hour and eastbound was 43 miles per hour. The posted speed is 25 miles per hour, he said.

The lowest speed recorded in both directions was 18 miles per hour.

He also said had he been issuing traffic tickets for speeding only four motorists would have been cited.

“Traffic is fairly light on Springfield Road. There were only a few cars that were over … We didn’t see any consistency with somebody trying to pick up a lot of speed in that area,” he said.

As for vehicles negotiating the continuous right turn, he said the average speed was around 16 miles per hour, which is “reasonable.”

In addition to studying the current traffic patterns Gladis also examined accident reports dating back to one year.

“There have been no crashes on Springfield Road related to the intersection. There were two crashes near the 500 block – one involved an inattentive driver running off the road and the other involved a car turning into the back driveway of the medical center. It is my opinion that no changes are necessary to the continuous right turn at the stop sign at this time,” he said.

Mayor David Spatholt told Gladis to present his results to Baker and explain his reasoning. Gladis said he would.

kschwendeman@mojonews.com

Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Things are fine the way they are on Springfield Road, according to Police Chief Tim Gladis.

Gladis told City Council he did a traffic study of the road over two days after a city resident voiced his concerns at the last council meeting.

Jack Baker lives on Springfield Road and said motorists speed along the road to state Route 14 and that a continuous right turn stop sign near the entrance to Firestone Park should be changed to a regular stop sign.

Gladis said he measured traffic speed in the westbound and eastbound lanes using handheld radar for an hour on Friday and Monday. Because he was conducting a study he hid the police cruiser behind some bushes near the entrance to the park pool so as not to interfere with the results, he added.

He noted the top speed of each vehicle as it passed between the entrance and a home on the 500 block of Springfield Road, according to his report.

During the study 162 vehicles passed through – 93 of which were westbound from state Route 14 to East Park Avenue and 69 of which were eastbound from East Park Avenue to state Route 14.

The highest speed recorded for westbound vehicles was 38 miles per hour and eastbound was 43 miles per hour. The posted speed is 25 miles per hour, he said.

The lowest speed recorded in both directions was 18 miles per hour.

He also said had he been issuing traffic tickets for speeding only four motorists would have been cited.

“Traffic is fairly light on Springfield Road. There were only a few cars that were over … We didn’t see any consistency with somebody trying to pick up a lot of speed in that area,” he said.

As for vehicles negotiating the continuous right turn, he said the average speed was around 16 miles per hour, which is “reasonable.”

In addition to studying the current traffic patterns Gladis also examined accident reports dating back to one year.

“There have been no crashes on Springfield Road related to the intersection. There were two crashes near the 500 block – one involved an inattentive driver running off the road and the other involved a car turning into the back driveway of the medical center. It is my opinion that no changes are necessary to the continuous right turn at the stop sign at this time,” he said.

Mayor David Spatholt told Gladis to present his results to Baker and explain his reasoning. Gladis said he would.

kschwendeman@mojonews.com

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