https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsl8r-3Y5Y4
I have driven from I-229 to Downtown twice on Minnesota Avenue since these new signals have started. My wait times were about half as what they were before, so that is an improvement, BUT I felt like I was stopping at more lights. Either way, I usually try to take Phillips Avenue Downtown if I am traveling from 41st Street. Very few lights, more scenic, and faster.
While the city claims that it is legal for Zach to do this because of the 80% approval from the neighborhood, one has to question the liability of the city and and safety concerns of having a citizen buying his own paint and standing in a public street painting stripes?
It’s bad enough citizens risk their safety trimming city owned trees in the boulevard now they have citizens striping the streets, something public works and the traffic department should have paid for and contracted after Zach did the legwork of the approval process. Are we so destitute for money in the city we now are having citizens buying and painting city streets?
I guess the city recently re-striped North Main, somehow they were able to scrape the money together, but ironically it wasn’t to touch up the job Zach did. The city repainted the parallel parking spots taking away the angled parking Zach created. So I guess the city has money to stripe the streets when they are covering up citizen’s hard work.
The city’s chief traffic engineer claimed they decided to go back to parallel parking because the Bakery closed. Huh? I guess they don’t think the place is ever going to reopen. Let’s face it, the real reason they painted over Zach’s work was to cover up the embarrassment of having a citizen do their job for them. Lazy asses.
These cameras have been lining the lights on Minnesota Ave. Pretty scary;
Two different systems, one on Minnesota Avenue and another on 41st Street, will go live this summer.
Troy Miller, traffic engineer with the city of Sioux Falls, says that two adaptive traffic systems will be activated in the coming months. Â One will encompass eight intersections on Minnesota Avenue between Interstate 229 and 18th Street; another will span 13 intersections on 41stStreet between Marion Road and Minnesota Avenue.
The adaptive traffic systems control lights based on traffic. Miller says the systems identify traffic and make adjustments to shorten travel time.
I wonder how these cameras will hold up in a high wind storm? I also wonder what else they are ‘detecting’.
This morning, I was finally glad to merge on to the interstate on my way to work. It seemed the State DOT snow plow operators remembered to set their alarm clocks, I can’t say the same about the city.
Yes, I understand that the snow will probably be gone by 5 PM today, but would it have hurt anything to go out at about 5-6 AM this morning and plow the main arterials like Cliff, Minnesota, Marion and 41st Street with just one pass at least? The ridges down the middle of the road were so high, my car was hydro plaining at times, and the ridges were also holding back the water from flowing into storm gutters. A horrible mess that could have been corrected over a couple of hours by our Public Works Department.
I know money is tight, but it could not have cost that much to call in workers a couple of hours earlier to do a job they are already punched in to do on a normal Monday anyway.
Public Works Department; HUGE FAIL!
I was actually surprised at my rating of 72%, I thought it would be higher.
l3wis 