Milton committee completes walk audits

A Milton traffic committee has completed a series of walking tours around town aimed at observing and finding ways to improve traffic flow and safety in all areas.

The ad hoc traffic calming committee held eight walking audits of one-mile stretches in town, which allowed citizens to tag along, ask questions of committee members and provide input for the committee’s report to Milton Town Council, expected to be delivered in July.

The audits ran through June 10, and generally had five to eight people as part of a group. 

Councilwoman Randi Meredith, committee chair, said, “One of my overarching goals is to try to switch the priority from ‘How fast can we get traffic through Milton’ to “How much safer can we make it for people just trying to walk around town?’”

On June 9, the committee walked a particularly busy section of town: Mulberry Street starting at Broad Street and ending at Route 16. This route includes H.O. Brittingham and Milton elementary schools, the Miltonian shopping center, and, across Route 16, the Quick Stop convenience store and gas station. 

A group of five took part in the June 9 audit, led by Meredith. The first stop was at the intersection of Mulberry Street and Lavinia Street, where the group stood for 10 minutes and observed the way traffic moved in and around the intersection.

The main observation from the group, which included board of adjustment member Allen Sangree, planning commission member Donald Mazzeo and Meredith’s husband, Eban Brittingham, was that the Lavinia Street intersection has numerous blind spots. Drivers seeking to make left-hand turns have their vision obscured in both directions. To a motorist’s right is a house with a brick wall, and to the left is a house with a utility pole right at the corner. Motorists could be seen easing their way over the stop line because they struggled to see in either direction. 

“Every intersection is in a position of having zero turn-angle visibility, with this one being one of the worst,” Mazzeo said. 

A few of the utility poles at intersections show signs of having been hit by cars. One solution, Meredith said, is to underground some of the utility lines, although the cost is estimated at $1 million per mile.

It wasn’t just the car lanes that had issues. The sidewalks in the Mulberry-Lavinia area have problems with ramps built to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Meredith said some of the ramps have gaps, which would make it difficult for a wheelchair user to get through. 

The group next observed traffic for 10 minutes near H.O. Brittingham Elementary School. Traffic should be somewhat eased in this area next year, as Milton Elementary School will move back to its renovated building on Federal Street.

Traffic in the area of the schools does go slower – the speed limit is 20 mph through the school zone – and there is a digital speed indicator sign as vehicles enter the area, which Meredith said is generally effective at getting drivers to reduce speed. She said the committee has discussed placing additional radar signs around town, as well as so-called silent policemen, which are typically placed in the center of crosswalks to indicate traffic should slow down for pedestrians. 

Still, there were areas where the group found improvements could be made. For one, with no bicycle lane, there was major congestion when a group of cyclists came through while buses and cars were going in and out of the school zone. Drivers trying to make left-hand turns out of H.O. Brittingham had a long wait because of the normal traffic on Mulberry, and the buses entering and exiting the school grounds. 

Meredith said one way to improve traffic safety in Milton is to make more streets one-way and use the second lane as a bike lane. 

“What I’m picturing is you would come in on Union and out on Mulberry. You would come in on Federal and out on Chestnut,” she said. “Half of the width of the street could be devoted to bikes, walkers.”

Meredith said in a survey the committee sent out during the spring, one of the common complaints was that motorists could not see what was coming through the intersections of Mulberry Street.  

Complicating any changes the town wants to make regarding traffic is the fact that the Delaware Department of Transportation manages most of Milton’s major roadways. However, she said the department is usually receptive to ideas aimed at improving safety. 

An idea the committee has discussed, which has met with some resistance, is raised crosswalks, which act like a speed bump but are not as jarring. However, Meredith said Milton Fire Department, which was invited to comment, has opposed this idea because it would delay emergency response time by six seconds. 

From the school, the next observation area was at the intersection of Route 16 and Mulberry Street. The main issue at this intersection is the Quick Stop parking lot, where if drivers U-turn out of the gas station, they can run into traffic coming through the Union Street Extended traffic signal heading westbound. 

“From a safety perspective, it can be harrowing to come out of here,” Meredith said. “This needs to be better than what it is.”

Meredith said DelDOT is looking at this area as part of a study on the Coastal Delaware corridor, and the department is planning to put traffic delineators near the intersection of Route 16 and Union Street Extended. Her suggestion would be to make all traffic coming out of the Quick Stop go one way – westbound – and then make traffic on Mulberry Street Extended one-way, so that those heading north go toward Cedar Creek Road, and anyone wanting to go back toward Milton can turn right on Cedar Creek and come back. 

At the ad hoc committee’s June 9 meeting, committee members discussed their observations of all eight audit zones with the intention of compiling them into its advisory report. The committee was expected to discuss its draft report during its June 23 meeting at the Cannery Village Clubhouse.