Resident urges city to act on neighborhood's traffic

The city is trying to develop an access road .
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Cynthia Tidd of Dana Street says something must be done to discourage trucks and speeding motorists from traveling through her neighborhood.
Tidd lives around the corner from where 5-year-old MarQuis Gary was struck by a hit-and-run driver Sunday on Glenwood Street Northeast.
She said speeding cars are a problem on Glenwood, Dana and Hollywood.
Mayor Hank Angelo said speed-limit, slow-children-at-play and no-truck-traffic signs, which were removed when work was being done on Dana Street, were to be put back up.
Slow-children-at-play and no-truck-traffic signs were erected on Glenwood on Wednesday, Angelo said, adding speed-limit signs also will be installed "as soon as possible."
"We go out and yell at them to slow down," Tidd said, but added that it does little good.
Encouraged to tape speeders
She said city officials have urged her to videotape speeding cars and she plans to encourage other residents to follow suit.
Besides speeding, Tidd said residents are bothered by noisy trucks day and night.
The neighborhood is near an industrial area.
"They use it as a through-way and it's not acceptable," Tidd said.
Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, said the city wanted to install an access road from behind Concord Steel and Alcoa onto Bronze Road, but that would cross over the Ohio Central Railroad tracks.
"You have trucks that turn from Larchmont onto Martha and they can't make that turn," Novak said.
"They go up on the curb and that's right by McKinley Elementary and there's a ball field there. You have a lot of kids in the immediate area."
William Totten, director of the city's engineering, planning and building, said the idea hasn't been scrapped.
"It's a safety issue with the railroad," he said.
When a tractor-trailer is stopped at the stop sign for the access road, a portion of the rig would hang over the tracks.
"We're looking at alternatives to get around another way," Totten said.
Also seeking an alternative
Terry Feichtenbiner, general manager of Ohio Central Railroad System, said they're trying to come up with an alternative that's both safe and economical.
The Federal Railroad Administration, a division of the United States Department of Transportation, is working to eliminate and reduce the number of railroad crossings at highways or city streets, he said.
One possibility is to make an access road parallel with the railroad track that leads to Larchmont Avenue.
Novak is concerned that would create a blind spot for truck drivers turning onto Larchmont.
Feichtenbiner said he didn't detect a blind spot when he visited the site.
"We have a good relationship with the city's engineering department and we're trying our best to come up with an alternative that works the best for everyone," he said.
denise.dick@vindy.com