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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTraffic Safety Commission 01-21-09 j NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION January 21, 2009,10:00 A.M. Training Room — St. Croix County Sheriffs Office CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING OLD BUSINESS 1. Hwy 35 / County U, River Falls 2. I -94 / Hwy 65 south ramp, traffic signal 3. Hwy 12, truck route designation 4. Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), update on submitted projects NEW BUSINESS 1. Hwy 64 / County CC (Wall St.), New Richmond 2. Hwy 64 snowmobile use inquiry ADJOURN (Items may be taken in different order) ** Additions /Changes /Corrections St. Croix County Traffic Safety Commission Minutes St. Croix County Traffic Safety Commission meeting was held on January 21, 2009, in Sheriff's Office training room of the Government Center in Hudson starting at 10:06 A.M. Present were: Cpt. Scott Knudson, Sgt. Brian Erickson, Miles Wittig, Andrea Loeffelholz, Greg Helgeson, Tim Ramberg, Jack Colvard, and Marion Standaert. Meeting was called to order by chairman Knudson. When going over last meetings minutes there were two corrections to be made on page 3 in the last paragraph. In the first sentence of the paragraph it will end "..has been delayed until 2010 due to companion construction projects." And in the last sentence "Home Technology Days" will be changed to "Farm Technology Days." The last correction /clarification to the minutes was on page two in the fifth paragraph. Mr. Helgeson would like clarification that the signs are owned and are the responsibility of the school. Motion was made to adopt the October 15th minutes, seconded and approved. OLD BUSINESS Mr. Helgeson advised us that they went to the River Falls City Counsel with a proposal to prohibit crossing and left turns onto Hwy 35 near the intersection of Cty U. Drivers will be able to turn left or right when they are on Hwy 35, you just won't be able to turn left to get onto Hwy 35 or go straight across. You will only be able to make a right turn to get on to Hwy 35. Apparently there was another fatality at that intersection since our last meeting. The day before Thanksgiving some driving a garbage truck was turning left onto Hwy 35, saw a car coming at him on 35 but he had thought the vehicle was in the right lane. The vehicle was in the left lane and ended up clipping the back of the garbage truck, killing the driver of the car. According to Mr. Helgeson they will be contacting the owners of the businesses in the business parks, in case they live out of town. There will also be an article in the paper with diagrams. They will also put out a news release. This is just a temporary fix, as they hope to have the entire intersection changed within five years. Mr. Helgeson also informed us that they had put the stop lights at 1 -94 and Hwy 65. This is also a temporary fix as this intersection will be totally reconstructed in the year 2012. He would like us to keep him informed if we here any complaints or comments about the intersection. Our next item of Old Business Mr. Helgeson showed us all a Wisconsin Long Truck Operators Map and told us that most all state highways are now truck routes. The only exceptions in St. Croix County are on Hwy 128 north between Glenwood City and Hwy 64; on Hwy 65 north of New Richmond; and a small part of Hwy 64 down to Stillwater. Sgt. Erickson wanted to inform us that this will not 1 affect the scale. That there are no exceptions on 1 -94. He then went on to explain to us the basics of the how the scale is run. On our last item of Old Business Mr. Helgeson thanked the committee for their letter of support with the projects submitted to the Highway Safety Improvement Program. All of our programs were approved. NEW BUSINESS Mr. Helgeson talked about problems they are having with the intersection of Hwy 64 and Cty C in New Richmond. They have put blinkers on the stop sign and have now met with the City and the County to try to come up with some solutions until they can put up the overpass that is planned. In a couple of weeks they will do another traffic count to see if the numbers are there to justify putting in a traffic signal. Mr. Helgeson told us that he had been contacted by Joe Grant on behalf of the Somerset Snowmobile Club asking if it was okay to drive snowmobiles on the right -of -way on Hwy 64. Technically it is legal, but the DOT is attempting to get that portion of road designated as a freeway and then it would not be legal, so the DOT would prefer not to see snowmobiles on there now, so that there is no confusion in the future. Mr. Ramberg informed us that they have purchased (with the help of the State) one Auto - flagger which should help them this summer. Instead of having two people act as flaggers at each end of a construction area, you have one person in the middle, who switches the signs on either side. This should help save money with less workers needed and help on safety. Ms. Loeffelholz, who is sitting in for Dennis Erickson, let us all know that Wisconsin's traffic fatalities for 2008 was the lowest it's been since 1944 and 2009 is already beating 2008 so far. She informed us that people have been talking about the primary seatbelt law, but so far nothing has happened. Another issue she hears about is cell phone use in cars. She says some municipalities are making it against the law to use cell phones in their municipalities except for "hands free." Ms. Loeffelholz gave out a hand out with lots of various information for us from fatal distractions to ways for Wisconsin to get around OWI checkpoints. It was all very informational. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 A.M. Respectfully submitted, Marion Standaert 2