The Attention-Getting Device

For the past few weeks I’ve been pouring over the documents and press releases connected with the City plan to build a traffic circle -- aka a roundabout -- at the intersection of Richland Ave. and State Route 682. The entire Richland/682 proposal is a major one, with road improvements that will run from Dairy Lane, where a traffic light is set to be installed, to the intersection between the Convo and Peden Stadium. More than half of a 3 million Ohio Department of Transportation grant will go towards repairing the deck of the Richland Bridge, but it’s the roundabout that has generated the most discussion. Those interested can review 3D simulations of the two main intersection choices at http://www.ci.athens.oh.us/streets/richland.html

This post and my next one will take a look at the pros and cons of the roundabout proposal from a motorist and traffic safety perspective, then from a pedestrian angle, with something on funding thrown in for good measure.

Traffic safety has been the motivating force behind the project. A 2004 ODOT study ranked the Richland/682 intersection as the 78th most dangerous in the state. The problem is mainly that the intersection is not only heavily traveled but mixes high speed traffic on 682 with low-speed travelers on Richland. The tendency is for the 682 drivers to continue through the traffic signal, setting up the conditions for broadside collisions and pedestrian accidents. I admit to having spaced out and nearly run a red myself on one occasion coming down 682, and I consider myself at least a near-average driver, so the problem may be common.

After reading up on the options, I’m inclined to agree with Athens Streets Director Andy Stone: a roundabout looks like the most elegant long term solution.
There’s no way for us drivers to “run” a shrub-filled center median the way we can a traffic light, and hence the possibility of high-speed accidents should be greatly reduced. During normal traffic flow, drivers are able to get through a roundabout more rapidly than they would a traditional intersection, and at peak traffic times, such as sporting events, a police officer could direct traffic, since many are already in the area for security reasons.

The protest has been made that American drivers are unfamiliar with the concept of roundabouts and that having one at the intersection will cause confusion and an increase in fender benders. This may be true, but I give our drivers credit for more smarts than some may: with the proper signs posted most should learn quickly. The fact that negotiating a roundabout requires both hands on the wheel might even prompt a few clueless motorists to actually (gasp) put away their cell phones for once!

All of the above was written several days ago, but I just saw the aftermath of a tragic high-speed accident that underscores the need for something to be done about the intersection. As I was driving in on 682 yesterday I came upon two fire trucks and a sedan with its entire front end bashed in. An article in today’s Messenger lists both drivers as injured and say that police are seeking witnesses to the moment of the crash, since no one apparently stopped to investigate -- a sad testament to our self-absorbed state in these times. My thoughts, prayers and hopes for full recovery go out to the drivers and their families.

Well, it looks like the horses are out the barn door on this one. Edwards Communities of Columbus has been very busy the past month, and they've successfully stripped the entire 32-acre site above Richland and Dairy Lane down to raw earth. Besides prepping for the massive apartment complex that the company plans to build there, the speed and completeness of the clearcut suggests a defensive move to counter any further roadblocks the mayor and city council may try to throw up in the way of the project. It would take something approaching a strip mine reclamation and a good 30-50 years to return the property to anything resembling mature woodland again. Disputes over Edwards' plan to blast the hillside are still playing out. Anyone with a taste for irony should savor the fact that Edwards plans to name a development that will lower the ridge 28-40 feet "The Summit at Coates Run".

I'll find time to write more about Edwards and their plans later, but for now I want to invite the south siders whose homes border the earthworks to participate in a sort of public memory project. If you have photos or stories of the Coates Run woods that you'd like to share, send them to athwatch at gmail.com, my blog email address, and I'll post them here (make sure to send descriptive captions with your photos). Having walked the ridge above Coates Run in earlier years, I'd like to see the beauty of that particular part of Athens remembered properly.

I was startled out of my daze early this morning as I passed a newsstand headline: "Mayor Asserts Authority, Fires Code Chief". It's no secret that Mayor Wiehl and others around Athens have been critical of the effectiveness of City code enforcement, but firing Steve Pierson was a bold and risky move.

Wiehl's choice of a new director will be one of the most serious he makes during his term as mayor. Pierson had 14 years experience as director of code enforcement, and was known as a pleasant public official and an expert on code matters. I happen to think that the code office is partially responsible for the current state the town is in, but the problem of widespread code violation has far deeper roots.

The reality is that barely any community stakeholders actually live in Athens anymore. According to the 2000 U.S. census, only 30% of the city’s houses were owner-occupied, and the gap has widened since then. 2006 population estimates indicate that total city population dropped in the six years intervening, while Ohio University's enrollment swelled. What this means in plain terms is that for a long time now the city has been experiencing urban flight, as townies are edged out by the growing student population. The permanent workforce of the city is clearly much larger than the census homeowner figure suggests, but my assumption is that in 2008 the people working in Athens but living outside the city limits easily outnumber those who have stayed in town.

This situation puts enormous pressure on the code office. The municipal code was drafted back when Athens was a typical residential town, and it has come under constant assault from the combined interests of landlords and undergraduate renters, many -- though by no means all -- of whom seek to ignore or bypass its provisions.

The remaining settled Athenians that want the code strictly enforced sense nightly that our city has lost a healthy balance of town and gown, but by now they are a embattled minority. It’s no surprise that few living outside the city care about code enforcement -- there’s no broken glass on their front walk. If basic city services and infrastructure continue to erode from the population imbalance, though, they too will eventually feel the burn.

If Pierson failed to fully enforce the code, it was because he caved to the pressure on him and his office too often, but any fair-minded person has to ask themselves if they could have done much better at such a thankless job. I salute Steve for his 14 rounds in the ring and wish him the best in future endeavors, and good luck to his successor: put on your reading glasses and lace up those gloves, because you’re going to need both.

For those of you that have been following OU's plans to build a campus health center that would put student health, the University Medical Associates, and a diagnostic center under one roof, you can return to your regularly scheduled programming. Following last Friday's board of trustees meeting, a University spokesperson explained to the press that the estimate for the cost of building the facility has risen from 18 to 26-30 million dollars, prohibitively expensive. OU now intends to renovate Hudson Hall and Parks Hall, the current homes of student health and UMA, respectively.

I can't say I'm sorry to see the project mothballed for the time being. While Hudson has many shortcomings as a student health center, it is central to campus and much of off-campus student housing. Neither of the sites that were batted around were within walking distance of the vast majority of OU students, and at least one, the current tailgating park across from Peden Stadium, was at odds with the recommendations of OU's campus master plan, which calls for the Hocking River corridor to be left undeveloped.¹

While the new center would have allowed Student Health Services and UMA to combine services and share facilities, the prospect of three separate entities occupying a single building has to make you wonder as well; the original center proposal called for 75,000 square feet of space, while Hudson and Parks together add up to over 81,000 square feet.²

To obtain the funds for building that $18 million version, budget-makers had proposed nearly doubling student fees by adding a dedicated health fee to the health portion of the general fee starting in Fiscal Year 2011, an increase from $43.25 to $82.11 per quarter. Fee hikes resulting from a Hudson renovation will likely be more modest, though a recent Post article suggested that planners hope to completely gut the building and possibly add on to the front.³

If plans for a combined health center ever do go back on the board, my two cents is that it should be built on the parking lot just east of Walter Hall, a location that is within walking distance of most of campus. The master plan has designated this a future building site on the Richland green, and it's big enough to accommodate the most ambitious of projects.⁴