Split-rail fences cause sight problems for traffic

John A. Williams
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND December 09, 2007 01:46 am

— Dear John,
As a resident of Timber Ridge subdivision, I want to bring to your attention the dangerous traffic situation that the City has brought upon itself and the residents of Timber Ridge due to the placement of the split rail fences along Boulevard, north of Danforth.
The situation is most dangerous as you try to exit off Ramblewood onto Boulevard as there are a total of six fences at this intersection. Four of them that you have to try to look thru, around, or over to the south. It is true that if you are driving a pickup or SUV that you can see over them. However, if you are in a car you must pull the nose of your vehicle almost into the street to see past the fences, especially to the south.
What do we have to do to get some relief from this situation? In the least, I request that at least the fences in the small median at Ramblewood be removed. This would help a little as it would reduce from four to two, the number of fences that you have to look through.
I am the secretary of our homeowners association but I am writing this personnally, not as a respresentative of the association. We were all for widening the street and making these needed improvements but who would of thought that such fences would be erected? At our request, we did have several meetings with Nathan Gains at the construction site to discuss the impact of the 10-foot wide sidewalk in regard to our row of beautiful oak trees.He did not mention the fences. — Barry Bloyd
A.: No sooner than when I received this e-mail, the city was already in communication with Mr. Bloyd.
“It’s been taken care of,” said City Manager Larry Stevens.
He said City Engineer Steve Manek visited with Bloyd about the problem and workers already have taken action.
Stevens confirmed the fences were installed to keep vehicles off the newly installed sidewalks but workers have been monitoring the area since it opened.
“They’ve had no accidents,” Stevens said. “A few of the fences have been removed that might appear to cause sight restrictions.”
Stevens said Bloyd was able to find an answer to his problem because he talked to the right people. “I think he followed the right procedure from our perspective, that is contacting us.”

HAVE AN EDMOND QUESTION? Write to John A. Williams at jwilliams@edmondsun.com or call him at 341-2121, ext. 108.

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