Council to vote on April 7 about possibly creating a four-way stop at Berkshire and Ridge roads due to residents concerns about speeding issues

By Brandi Hart
McKinneyUpdate.com editor
Created at 11:55 p.m. on April 6, 2009

The McKinney City Council will vote on whether a four-way stop should be created at Berkshire and Ridge roads in Stonebridge at the regular bi-monthly council meeting on April 7 after residents who live near the streets have voiced repeated concerns about people driving over 30 mph in the area.

The city of McKinney's traffinc engineering staff is recommending that the city not create a four-way stop at the intersection as the traffic volume at the intersection does not meet the minimum criteria to warrant a four-way stop or traffic signal, said Rich Larkins, director of the city's Traffic Engineering Department. Residents asked for some form of a traffic control device, such as speed cushions, a four-way stop or a traffic light to be placed at the intersection after concerns of the safety of children who cross the intersection who attend Evans Middle School, which is near the area.

"We don't see a large increase in traffic volumes on Berkshire east and west of Ridge Road. The traffic study done in 2001 closely mirrors the traffic numbers that exist now," Larkins said. He added that the traffic volumes on Berkshire Road, east and west of Ridge Road have remained relatively consistent. Larkins said the city staff will review the intersection on an annual basis to see if it warrants a four-way stop or a traffic signal.

Susan Langdon, a professional transportation engineer with the Savant Group whom the city hired as a consultant said there is a significant reduction in crashes for warranted traffic signals and an increase of accidents in areas that include traffic control devices that have unwarranted traffic signals.

"You're not really doing a service by installing devices in unwarranted areas," Langdon said.

She performed an independent review on the Berkshire Road and Ridge Road intersection and spent April 3, much of the weekend and April 6 working on the project. Langdon said she reviewed warrants for traffic installation and characteristics of the intersection, and said the intersection does not meet the warrantrs for traffic installation.

Council member for District 4 Ray Ricchi said when he recently drove down Ridge Road with city staff members that the car was traveling over the speed limit without he or the staff members even knowing it, and added that it is very easy to speed along Ridge Road where the road elevation rises near a hill. Ricchi questioned the traffic volumes that were presented to the council in the October, 2008 study. The study showed that 320 vehicles cross the intersection per hour in a 24 hour period traveled through the Berkshire Road and Ridge Road intersection.

"I'm going to have to question that one. Out of 2,200 kids I know attend Evans Middle School and Wolford Elementary School 125 to 150 kids live in that neighborhood that go to those two schools. I'm pretty sure that more than 20 kids cross that street a day. The fact of the matter is this issue has been going on for nine years," Ricchi said.

He also questioned Langdon's analysis of the traffic volumes at the intersection as Langdon is getting paid by the city as a consultant and said she is basically there to reaffirm the staff's recommendation to not create a four-way stop at the intersection

"If I go out and hire a consultant that consultant can skew the evidence in however they want," Ricchi said.

Langdon replied that her analysis was not skewed. "I have no presonal benefit in how this relationship is resolved and there is no benefit to me at how this is resolved," Langdon said. She added that to get an accurate traffic volume you have to use exact traffic counts, and not averages taken each hour. You instead need to use the actual number of people using the intersection, Langdon said.

Ricchi said he bring a motion at the April 7 meeting to put a four-way stop at Berkshire and Ridge Road.

"There is a three-way stop at Glen Oaks and Lake Forest Drive, and that was installed in 1991. Back then there were less than 600 people living in Stonebridge, so I'm interested in seeing how that came about," Ricchi said.

Ricchi asked the city staff on April 1 to get some information together about the intersection by the April 6 council meeting. Langdon said the information she compiled was a great deal of information to pull together in a few days, but that she and the city staff found some really good tools for controlling speed,

Chief of Police Doug Kowalski said that since April 1, 2008 to March 31 of this year that 25 different drivers have received citations along Berkshire Road near Ridge Road.

The issue of children's safety was recently on residents' minds after a 12-year-old boy stepped into traffic along Berkshire Road, about 25 feet west of Cypress Point, in the 6500 block of Berkshire Road on March 31 and the boy's backpack strap was caught by the side mirror of a car traveling along Berkshire Road.

Kowalski told the council on April 6 that the boy received a head injury and was taken by a Carefligh helicopter ambulance to Children's Medical Center, and the boy is expected to do well in regards to his recovery, Kowalski said. The boy failed to yield to the right-of-way and the speed of the car was not an issue as it was traveling at or below the posted speed limit, Kowalski said. The McKinney Police Department and the McKinney ISD are also working closely togethr to ensure everyone's safety, Kowalski added.

In other news, Mayor Bill Whitfield said a representative of the Council of Mayors notified he and City Manager Frank Ragan that the city was awarded a $1,070,500 environmental grant for sustainability and environmental works that the city is pursuing.

"So, for those of you who think that green or sustainable development is not here to stay, well it truly is. It's certainly beneficial for the city of McKinney," Whitfield said.

The council was also introduced to Julie Smith, the city's new green coordinator and Lincoln Thompson, who has worked for the city as the Neighborhood Services Coordinator. Thompson was over the Kid Council program that introduced third grade students in McKinney ISD to the council and mayoral process, and he was over the citys PRIDE program, which stands for promoting residential involvement, development and enthusiasm.

The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tues., April 7 at City Hall, 222 N. Tennessee St. For more information, call 972-547-7500.

The following May 9 mayoral and council candidates attended the April 6 council meeting: at-large candidates Gilda Garza and David Brooks, District 1 candidate Maurice Malvern, who had to leave to attend a funeral in Dallas, and mayoral candidate Brian Loughmiller. No other candidates attended the meeting.

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