Residents, City Still At Impasse Over Nevada-Cozza Barrier In/Around: Nevada-Lidgerwood
The Nevada-Cozza barrier has divided residents as surely as it’s divided the intersection.
Terry Cox, chair of the Nevada Lidgerwood traffic committee, held a public meeting Jan. 20 to hash over how the barrier came to be and what - if anything - should be done about it.
The turnout wasn’t great, but most everyone had something to say. About 25 people joined transportation director Bruce Steele, traffic engineer Lou Dobberstein and developer Rich Naccarato for two hours of impassioned discussion.
The barrier is a collection of traffic islands at the intersection of Nevada Street and Cozza Drive. It prohibits traffic from turning left onto Nevada from eastbound Cozza, and from turning left onto Cozza from northbound Nevada.
Traffic exiting Naccarato’s Cedar Springs Estates apartment complex at the east end of Cozza is free to turn right or left. The apartments can also be accessed from either north or southbound Nevada.
Dobberstein was quick to remind people that “anytime you put up something like this, there’s a reaction. Traffic has to find somewhere to go.”
Of the people who attended the meeting, feelings seemed to be split between keeping the barrier as is and ripping it out all together.
People who live along Cozza like the barrier because it has reduced traffic on their street - which is what it was created to do.
But those who live on the streets just off of Cozza - like Cincinnati and Greta - say there’s no easy way for them to get in and out of the neighborhood now.
Members of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church, which sits at the northwest corner of the Nevada-Cozza intersection, also oppose the barrier. Many motorists try to bypass the barrier by cutting through the church parking lot - often at high speeds.
“Whatever we do in traffic, there are trade-offs,” Dobberstein said. He suggested putting up a chain to close off the church parking lot - giving members control of who goes in and out - or extending the barrier so that people can only turn right into or out of the parking lot.
“But then people in the neighborhood couldn’t get to church,” one woman said sarcastically.
A few people favored other options that change the turning patterns - creating left turns where there currently are none and getting rid of others, for example.
But Dobberstein said those alternatives would just “chase traffic around the neighborhood.” No one would know where the traffic would go until the complaints started coming in, he said.
Over and over, Dobberstein stressed the importance of working together as a neighborhood to look at the whole scope of traffic in the area.
“You should look at a traffic calming plan for the Nevada Lidgerwood neighborhood,” he urged. “You should look at what can be done in the neighborhood to direct traffic to the streets where you want it to be.”
The Nevada Lidgerwood traffic committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday to draft a recommendation for the neighborhood council. They will present it at a meeting on Feb. 10.
Though the city agreed to work with the neighborhood to try to come up with a mutually agreeable solution, the neighborhood council can only make a recommendation. The city has the final say in the barrier’s outcome.