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The Monona city council continued its review of the city budget last evening. The council has now completed the Committee of the Whole work sessions on the budget. The budget will be on the council's November 1 agenda.
For links to the budget docs you can go to my previous post or visit the city's website.
Before reviewing the budget the council also a 'regular' meeting. The council approved participation in DaneCom II (or Little DaneCom) Alternative Emergency Radio System Proposal. The appproval is subject to the council's review of the final cost-sharing. Monona's share is projected to be $9,000 to about $10,000. And before you ask, no this system will not displace, change, eliminate or mess up our current local dispatch.
The council discussed, but deferred a decision to consolidate Election Polling Locations Into One Location (City Clerk). My feeling is that the current two-poll system works well with little waiting even in Presidential years. It's not broke.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
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Doug-
ReplyDeleteI read the IH yesterday and a few items caught my eye.
The average speed on Winnequah at Frost Woods is 26. Was that a misprint? I do NOT think that my street enjoys an average speed of 26 at any point. I also noticed that there was going to be a committee to talk about those signs. I would encourage the mayor and city council to appoint some members of Monona that do not live on Winnequah. I think residents who lives on Dean, upper Winnequah, Femrite, Monona Drive, Broadway, upper Frost Woods, Slyvan, Bridge or would be perfect.
That's what the Police Chief's memo says. Average speed is not useful; typically look at the 85th percentile & the precent 5mph over and 10 mph over. That being said those numbers all look low to me compared to what I recall seeing before.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mymonona.com/pages/calendar/export_file.php?t=1573
IMHO, the main problem on Winnequah is mixing 400o vehicles, hundreds of bikes, and many peds in the street. Needs a sidewalk.
A little off topic, but budget related. There was a story on the radio last week about how some new law requires street signs to be upper and lower case instead of all upper case (which the law had been). I noticed several Monona signs in both formats.
ReplyDelete1)Do we have to pay for this next year? It seems like a lot, even if each sign is fairly cheep. They add up fast.
2)Do we have to change the walls on Monona Drive?
By the way, I like the all capital look better, so if it's a suggestion instead of a law, I'm fine with keeping things as they are.
A "new law requires street signs to be upper and lower case instead of all upper case 1)Do we have to pay for this next year?"
ReplyDeleteYou have to love how the minutiae of the MUTCD has become a political issue.
I'm not totally positive of the answer, but I *think* the street signs have to meet the new requirements by Jan. 9, 2012 for regular city streets. These requirements were first set forth in the 2000 edition of the MUTCD.
For multilane street with speed limits over 40 mph, the phase-in is in 2018 (first appeared in the 2003 edition).
So the requirements are not popping up overnight.
I can tell you that the MUTCD almost always includes a phase-in period. The MUTCD is written by committees of state, federal, and local engineers who are well-aware of budget constraints.
Street signs wear out and need to be replaced on a routine basis anyway. In particular, signs lose retroreflectivity over time.
The provisions in question are in 2D.43. Page 162.
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009/part2d.pdf
For the phase-in dates:
Go here and go to the end. Look for 2D.43 on page 2.
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009/coverintrotoc.pdf
"2)Do we have to change the walls on Monona Drive?" Not sure if you are asking about the sight distance or under these MUTCD rules, but the answer is 'no' in either case. I have the letter issued in October 2010 from Strand stating that the intersections all meet sight distance requirements.
And, the MUTCD does contain legal requirements, sometimes with variances allowed if supported by engineering judgment or study. The street lettering requirements are mandatory.
With the walls I meant, "do we have to change the lettering on the walls to upper/lower?" Since they are not reflective signs, it sounds like it's ok.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info, you were much clearer then the story.