Bernard Bearing Brunt Of Grand Closure

Traffic on Bernard Street has nearly doubled in the weeks since Grand Boulevard was closed for reconstruction.

City vehicle counts show Bernard is absorbing the bulk of the traffic detouring off Grand, said Don Ramsey, traffic engineer.

Before construction, Bernard had averaged just under 7,000 vehicles a day.

After Grand was closed, the traffic counts jumped to 13,300 vehicles a day.

Streets in the Rockwood area are also seeing an increase in traffic, Ramsey said. Rockwood Boulevard had traffic increase from 5,600 vehicles a day to between 7,000 and 7,500 a day.

Residential streets in the Rockwood neighborhood also have had increases.

Barriers along Garfield Road have minimized the traffic increases there.

There were 3,164 vehicles counted on Garfield on Aug. 15, just three days before Grand was closed.

On Aug. 18, the count jumped to 4,600 even as the city was installing a barrier on Garfield where it meets 25th and 26th avenues.

The barrier apparently worked as intended. The next day, traffic on Garfield dropped back to about 3,300 vehicles.

But the barrier shunted traffic onto other residential streets in the neighborhood, and that has some homeowners concerned about traffic on quieter streets.

Hatch Street, a narrow lane between Grand and Garfield, went from about 350 vehicles a day to about 1,300.

Arthur Street, just east of Garfield, went from about 800 to nearly 1,500.

Residents have been debating among themselves whether the barriers were a good idea. They met last week to talk about traffic issues.

Ramsey said the temporary barriers will be removed once the Grand paving is completed about Sept. 16. After that, the neighborhood will have to come to an agreement on any permanent traffic measures, such as traffic circles to slow vehicles.

Carol Gauper, who lives in the Rockwood area, said the heavier residential traffic poses a threat to children walking to Hutton School.

City officials have come under criticism for spending money to install temporary barriers in the Rockwood area, which is known for its many fine historic homes.

Ramsey said the city is spending about $5,000 on the barriers after scaling back the original cost of the traffic devices from an estimated $17,000.

He said the decision to put up what are known as “traffic calming devices” came because the Rockwood neighborhood has a legitimate problem with traffic cutting through residential streets, not because of any favoritism based on income levels in Rockwood.

The counts on Garfield Road are similar to a small arterial. Most residential streets have less than 1,000 vehicles a day, while Garfield has carried 3,000 vehicles a day or more for years.

“It’s been a continual problem through that area,” Ramsey said.

Even with the closure of Grand, Manito Boulevard to the west has seen only about 800 vehicles a day.

The city is trying to work with neighborhood groups to solve their problems, and the issue of traffic is one of the concerns that brought about organization of the Rockwood Neighborhood Council, Ramsey said.

, DataTimes