Traffic Cluster, Part Two: We'll never resolve traffic issues until "leadership" is willing to lead, not pander.

It occurred to me last night that as the coronavirus pushes unprecedented bicycle sales, here and across the country, Jeff Speck gave us a diagram for downtown streets purposefully rebuilt to accommodate modernity in the form of bikes and biking.

Our mayor threw it out the window.

Had he paid attention and been progressive, we now would have the ideal grid for a pandemic, the sort of step even Jeffersonville hasn't managed.

Instead, we have more of what we plainly specialize in as a municipality: congenital underachievement, plain and simple.

It boils down to this.

According to Team Gahan, all traffic issues have been magically resolved by pure genius since the prime cuts of the Speck grid study were rendered into oatmeal-flecked, fat-encrusted sausage to suit the needs of pay-to-play campaign finance.

According to genuine reality, most such issues remain, because our emperors routinely fail to wear clothes, and partisan politics infects everything, leading otherwise thoughtful people like my district councilman Greg Phipps to cautiously treat symptoms with band-aids, leaving major violators like the thoroughly non-calmed Spring Street three-mile long interstate ramp untouched by critical scrutiny.

Yes, Greg you're absolutely right; four-way stops are needed in the neighborhoods. Drivers occasionally run a four-way at full speed, but usually they at least slow before doing so, whereas stop light signals impel drivers to increase their speed as they approach the intersection.

But unless some of them are placed on Spring Street itself, or something else done to slow ever-escalating speeds (which police bizarrely deny even occur), heavy trucks will continue to travel in excess of 40 mph THROUGH A NEIGHBORHOOD WITH MORE CHILDREN LIVING THERE THAN AT ANY TIME IN PHIPPS' RESIDENCY AND MY OWN.

Phipps need only glance outside his window at the tonnage streaking past and feel the vibrations, but he won't, because City Hall is in denial, and City Hall lickspittles are not allowed to ask questions pertaining to demonstrable reality. Big Daddy must be obeyed, and Spring must remain an artery for dipshit drivers.

Because, I suppose, that's who we are as a city: enablers for misbehavior.

We can change this for the better. All we need is a willingness to act. Why must it be this hard to convince them to attack problems that can be seen plainly with their own eyes?

Perhaps it's because they refuse to look.

New Albany council discusses traffic problems, by Daniel Suddeath (Returning Journalist Laps Papa)

NEW ALBANY — The most prominent concern for residents is traffic, and it’s time to ramp up efforts to ease those worries, New Albany City Councilman Scott Blair said during what may be the last virtual gathering of the body.

Traffic was the primary issue discussed during Thursday’s council meeting, with members expressing different ideas for how to address what they said is a city-wide problem.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: The shenanigans and ass-hattery of Deaf Gahan's last-minute Main and Bank stop light project have commenced.

The shenanigans and ass-hattery of Deaf Gahan's last-minute Main and Bank stop light project have commenced, and once again merchants at and near Underground Station are in for a hell of a ride.

But first, let's have a look at the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of Gahan's political patronage, as performed by our Bored of Works on September 3. Note again that "over time" as cited here by city engineer Larry Summers must be translated for ordinary citizens to understand:

"We didn't bother with this intersection for years on end until just recently, when instead of posting a pre-schooler to stand there, watch, and view the idiocy, we awarded an $80,000 contract for research to one of the mayor's donors."

Now, having waited years on end to do what was obvious all along, Gahan is showing his horses the whip.

The Green Mouse reports ...

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I was walking down Main Street yesterday between 5th Street and Bank, when a semi-trailer as big as Gahan's ego flew past me on Main doing about 45 mph, reminding us that when the mayor threw all that money at the tall native weed medians where the rich folks live, there wasn't any money left to actually take a stab at slowing traffic elsewhere.

There was a commotion. Cones started going down on Bank Street, and then surveyors, Duke Energy people, Larry Summers and Mickey Thompson from the Street Department gathered.

A very harried looking man arrived and introduced himself as the foreman on the project and proceeded to outline what was about to happen to merchants in Underground Station and facing Main. 

Starting Monday the 16th, Bank Street on the south side of Main will be shut down and dug down to the depth of two feet. The entire intersection of Main and Bank will be milled as all the new light and anchor-festooned crosswalk infrastructure goes in. 

The foreman seemed to be in a blind panic. He said the Bank/Main project had been labeled "emergency" election year status and therefore would be fast tracked, adding that the amount of work they have to get done would typically require three months -- ah, but Deaf Gahan has demanded that work be completed in 27 days. 

Gahan's insistent it be finished before Harvest Homecoming even though this foreman admitted he had never had a project this size proceed that quickly and didn't know how they were going to get it done

I offered him a loaded Rice Krispies Treat and some Kool-Aid, and this seemed to calm him. Subsequently it transpired that yet again, the city hadn't bothered dispensing information to stakeholders, perhaps because of the election-year emergency. 

For instance Dr. Gradel at StoneWater Acupuncture & Chiropractic, whose office already is barely accessible due to the Reisz Mahal nonsense, had not been informed of what was going to happen. I watched as she chased down Thompson to ask for temporary loading zone signage in the hopes that her clients, who are coming to her for medical care, MIGHT be able to actually get to her office.

One of the merchants texted their landlord to ask if anyone from the city had contacted him, but he hadn't heard anything from them and only just saw the newspaper article.

The Underground Station courtyard will be restricted in terms of accessibility, and customers will have to park in the back and then hoof it around to Pearl Street and up to get to any of the Main Street businesses.

Is Gahan ever going to allow New Albany merchants to transact business in peace? It just goes to show that people who've never run a business themselves have no idea what it's really like.

Right, Adam?

---

Slick Jeffie's wasteful masterpiece: $85,000 + $406,522 = the price for traffic lights at a downtown intersection where a four-way stop would work just fine.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Did Team Gahan really eject former mayor James Garner from its campaign kickoff love-in last Saturday?

Slick Jeffie's wasteful masterpiece: $85,000 + $406,522 = the price for traffic lights at a downtown intersection where a four-way stop would work just fine.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the unquestioning, cursory coverage of the Tom May Gazette's Chris "Am I retired yet?" Morris.

Stop light coming to busy New Albany intersection

The New Albany Board of Public Works & Safety approved a bid from Ragle, Inc. Tuesday to install a light at the intersection of Bank and Main streets. Merchants in the area have been critical of the intersection for being too dangerous for both pedestrians and drivers. And with the new city hall expected to open in the next six months near the intersection will just add to the problem.

Ragle, Inc. was the only company to submit a bid for $406,522. The city's legal department will review the bid and give final approval and work will begin soon after. The bid also includes repaving the portion of Bank near the floodwall.

"We have looked at this extensively," city engineer Larry Summers said. "We feel like there is an immediate need."

One of the reasons why the intersection of Bank and Main has been so dangerous for so long is the city's refusal to address driver behavior on Main between State and 5th. Of course, having wasted every last penny of the state's perpetual maintenance endowment on the Main Street Beautification and High Weeds project, there's been no pile of cash for Team Gahan to pillage for piddling factors like safety.

This said, the intersection of Bank and Main could be easily calmed and regulated by the installation of a four-way stop, with a few stop signs and red flashers like the ones recently installed at the intersection of 13th and Elm -- itself a stupidly hazardous place that the city's "brain trust" insisted for years wasn't an issue, but finally became necessary to "fix" so that Greg Phipps could have something to campaign on.

Stop signs at the intersection of Bank and Main might cost a couple thousand dollars. So, how do we do it in Jeff Pay-to-PlayHan's Anchor City?

1. Ignore the problem for at least five years (see links below), and whenever  asked, about it, just push "play" as the city engineer makes another rote explanation of how it's utterly impossible to rectify -- right up until the moment when political expediency makes it absolutely critical to do RIGHT now, at whatever the cost.

2. Thus, with an election about to occur and a crescendo of dissatisfaction with five or more years of cowardly denial, it's time to select a frequent Gahan4Life campaign finance donor for yet another hocus-pocus $85k study -- in other words, post a minimum wage employee to stand there for a few hours and observe what any pre-schooler could plainly see with his or her own two eyes.

3. Award a $406,522 contract to install lights, anchor-seal-gizmo crosswalks and ubiquitous "Have a Good Gahan" yellow smiley faces, all the while doing absolutely nothing to calm traffic on any side of the intersection.

4. Have the same engineer who kept saying it was impossible to make fresh new gurgling sounds about the desperate need to rectify something he'd been commanded to ignore for five or more years, because after all, in New Gahania, Job One = Job Retention. Naturally we can't entirely blame the minions, who must bear the brunt of Gahan's incessant hypocrisy so that Dear Leader can reign forever.

5. At long last ProMedia assembles the area's pliant newspapers and television stations for the ceremonial motorized convoy, traveling a whole 30 yards between the shambolic delayed edifice of the $12 million Reisz Mahal and the brand new bells-and-whistles intersection, at a cost of only $491,522 instead of a few stop signs and flashing red lights.

As the ribbon is cut and contractors dump boots filled with cash into fish tanks, Adam Dickey is seen slouching in a doorway, tears gushing from his eyes, his poor hankie dripping with snot, owing to his good fortune in being alive to serve Deaf Gahan's every need.

A poem about love comes to Dickey's mind.

Two men are joined as one in you:
One seems cold and hard,
One who achieves his goals.
Another is tender and kind,
He forgets not even the poorest.
He feels for the least of us.

Two streams owe their strength to you.
You are the sap rising from each root,
The seed that gives them birth —
A new spirit rose from you,
That forged us together as a city-state
And dwells in us forever!

Hmm. Dude's no better of a poet than a party chairman, is he?

---

Previously at the only New Albany blog that really matters:

October 22, 2014
Which downtown New Albany intersections are the very worst for walkers?

October 29, 2017
Main Street intersections at Bank and 4th are hazardous for pedestrians. Where's City Hall, apart from a state of denial?

April 2, 2019
Institutional cowardice might explain why the Board of Works has routinely ignored complaints about the dangerous intersection of Main and Bank Streets ... since at least 2015.

June 27, 2019
ASK THE BORED: BOW says it might do what it said it couldn't, but only after a Gahan campaign donor gets a fat no-bid contract for another $85k "study."

ASK THE BORED: BOW says it might do what it said it couldn't, but only after a Gahan campaign donor gets a fat no-bid contract for another $85k "study."

They've dragged their feet for YEARS on the request of businesses and residents to just INSTALL A 4-WAY STOP at the intersection of Main and Pearl.

But no. Nothing simple can occur without ANOTHER $85,000 "study" conducted by ANOTHER of Jeff Gahan's campaign contributors -- and if the pre-determined outcome is delivered, there'll be ANOTHER fat contract for the same amount or more to ANOTHER donor, when all we really need to do is plant stop signs, slow drivers and help them negotiate passage safely.

Susan Duncan doesn't agree with the verdict of our own two eyes, but corrupt is corrupt.

#FireGahan2019

The city should know later this year whether a stop light is warranted at the intersection of Bank and Main streets.

Many business owners in the area have asked the city about placing a light at the intersection saying it poses a danger to both drivers and pedestrians. The city has hired Lochmueller Group to determine if a light is needed.

City engineer Larry Summers said with the new city hall and other proposed development coming to the area, he thinks a light will be warranted. The contract for the study is not to exceed $85,000.

However, the headline writer at NooBune gets it right, capturing the abject futility of a city unwilling, unable (actually both) to reign in fireworks, short of begging the citizenry not to set shit on fire.

Residents asked to use 'common sense' with fireworks, by CM

New Albany follows state law

NEW ALBANY — It's almost July 4 which means it's time for fireworks. And whether you love them or wish they were banned, they do generate plenty of discussion.

New Albany follows state law which means fireworks can be shot off starting now. People are supposed to shoot them off on private property and have safety measures in place in case something happens.

New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey told the Board of Public Works & Safety on Tuesday that people need to use "common sense" if they plan to use fireworks.

"People need to slow down and take a step back if they plan on using fireworks," he said.

Local fireworks vendors are open now through July 6 when their permits run out.

"I am already getting calls," Board of Works President Warren Nash said. "Everyone needs to be mindful of the dangers."

David Hall, director of the New Albany-Floyd County Animal Shelter, said July 5 is the busiest day for shelters across the United States for people looking for lost pets who run off after being spooked by fireworks.

"It's very stressful [for the pets]," he said.

He said some shelters across the country have people on staff who stay late into the night on July 4 to calm the animals due to all the noises.

ASK THE BORED: Can't City Hall just stop lying about 4-way-stop upgrades on Spring and Elm between Vincennes and downtown?

Last week at the Bored with Works meeting some rote cowardice broke out.

It's genuinely maddening.

Of course, City (Mike) Hall just finished an artful mini-propaganda blitz for dupe-worthy CNU27 attendees, insisting that Jeff Gahan's half-ass two-way street conversion has magically resolved all automotive-related safety issues.

They're lying, but after all, it's an election year.

Once again, when presented with safety concerns pertaining to traffic speeds from a neighborhood resident who witnesses the problem every single day, Gahan's compromised minions spout craven nonsense: the "manual" prohibits them from doing anything at all, except in those case when they decide to do something from motivations of politics, as opposed to safety.

The criteria for action? It's written on a fortune cookie hidden in Jeff Gahan's down-low bunker.

Accepting city engineer Larry Summers' slippery explanation (above) at face value, and recalling that he used the same well-greased explanation as a convenient excuse not to convert Elm & 13th into a 4-way stop -- right up until the morning it WAS converted, sans coherent explanation -- how can there be enough traffic to justify a 4-way at Elm and 13th, and at Elm and 10th, but not on Spring, one block over?

Are we to surmise that there is a flood of cross traffic between Spring and Oak, which never crosses Spring to get to Market and Main?

Why can't someone in Gahan's administration, ANYONE at this point -- conceding city officials are so thoroughly discredited that Gahan can pick a random janitor to deliver the message, or maybe hand it off to the who sells weenies out front of the City County Building in summer -- simply tell the truth about the street grid?

"We are car-centric to the core. None of us know what it means to walk or ride a bicycle, much less to navigate a wheelchair, but one thing we know for sure is that we're absolutely terrified to offend drivers. We'll continue to make meaningless gestures and co-opt "progressives" who are just as car-centric as us, and we'll talk a great game about our brilliance even as we ignore safety concerns and refuse to take substantive efforts to slow traffic."

That's Gahan's only "manual," isn't it?

The four-way stop at Elm & 13th, and why openness and transparency matter.

At last evening's city council meeting, 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps used his speaking time to congratulate himself and the Board of Works for the two recently installed stop signs (complete with helpful flashing red lights) on Elm at 13th Street.

Their addition has created a four-way stop, and it only took the amount of time required for a kindergarten student to take his or her first university class.

It's hard to begrudge Phipps his small victory, given how little he's achieved overall during eight years as a council representative apart from rubber-stamping expenditures.

However, the problem with his victory is the way he first explained it (paraphrased):

I've been working behind the scenes with the powers that be to facilitate this four-way stop, which the neighborhood has been asking for since the inception of NA Confidential. Yay!

Consider that (a) HWC Engineering's voluminous campaign donations to Jeff Gahan have had the effect of establishing the company as a de facto arm of city governance, and (b) every public utterance on the topic of four-way stops by an HWC official during the time of the two-way street reversion and since has been accompanied by a disdainful disclaimer: hardly ever can this be done and when it is, that's because a traffic count was made and the INDOT Pass Through Oracle consulted for clarification and approval.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 1: Mysterious CRS Marketing and the inevitable HWC Engineering tie-in.

This from a street engineering company that openly laughed at Jeff Speck's street grid recommendations (I was there and witnessed it) and operates from a strictly Talmudic old school perspective when it comes to traffic engineering, professing the necessity of keeping cars moving through town as quickly as they can on collector streets with as few impediments as possible -- and other considerations (quality of life for residents, perhaps?) be damned.

I'm not exaggerating. I attended the meetings and took note of what was happening. Having HWC implement Speck was like asking your goldfish to perform ballet.

So, we return to Phipps and his four-way triumph. It's good that we have a four-way stop at Elm and 13th, but the problem with "behind the scenes" is that we have no idea why something that kept being referred to as unlikely, if not outright impossible, suddenly occurred -- apart from an impending primary election and the obvious need to fluff the resumes of candidates.

What happened to change BOW's, Larry Summers' and HWC's minds?

What's the principle involved?

Is the principle involved useful as a precedent?

Will it take another 15 years to apply the precedent elsewhere?

Or is this four-way just an imperial decree and alms from Dear Leader, absent any coherent justification or explanation?

Rather than take to Facebook to announce his win, shouldn't Phipps explain the hows, whys and wherefores to residents?

Situations like this are why one is compelled to dismiss the boilerplate and look behind the curtain. A four-way stop at Elm and 13th was needed, but if the four-way is a one-off with no future applicability, what's the point?

We need to know, and Phipps needs to explain. He'll be hearing many more questions like this during the months to come.

HWC Engineering, municipal cowardice, Jeff Speck and reading the tea leaves through dry heaves.

There's a 4-way stop at Elm and 13th. The only question is whether it came with a ribbon.

Does this mean the forever variably apolitical Develop New Albany is endorsing candidate Phipps? Let's follow the Facebook sharing protocol of the presumed non-profits. First, from DNA back to ESNA.

Then ESNA to the source.

It's an election year, and candidate Phipps says he has been "working with the city for several months," as back-room and non-transparently as always, to get a 4-way stop at Elm and 13th.

Fair enough; it's been needed not for months, but for YEARS. After almost eight years of rubber-stamping City Hall expenditures, it's always good to achieve something.

So, ignoring the pertinent question of why Phipps took so long to work behind the scenes, and why his cherished overlord the mayor took so long to give his "superstar" BOW mentor Warren the okay to release this intersection just in time to become a nice pre-primary poll-boost, there’s an absolutely positive aspect to all this electioneering.

That's because the same Democrats who dragged their feet for months before making this needed change so a Democrat could take re-election campaign credit for it can no longer be the same Democrats resisting similar proposals (hint: 4-ways for Spring and 10th; for Main and Bank; rinse, repeat) because the statute of limitations has expired for the same Democrats who oft times before used the completely spurious excuse of a need for traffic studies and INDOT indulgences to avoid mustering the simple one-two cojones to do what's right.

All of which Phipps never questioned until his passive acquiescence to Gahan's hack job on Speck's plan produced tepid two-way street grid results.

But hear me out; this 4-way at Elm and 13th is genuinely important.

Finally a 4-way precedent has been set, so let’s hope future action to #slowthecars might someday occur when it ISN’T an election year.

Dude; that'd almost be PROGRESSIVE, wouldn't it?

Gahan convenes counter-revolutionary anti-terrorism squads because "business owners want to see changes made to busy New Albany intersection."

As noted in this space on Tuesday, institutional cowardice helps to explain why the Board of Works has routinely ignored complaints about the dangerous intersection of Main and Bank Streets since at least 2015.

To understand this situation, one must don a Hazmat suit, shrink to corpuscle dimensions and climb inside the mind of our terminally bunker-bound mayor, who views the hostile world outside in simple shades of black and white.

Jeff Gahan regards himself as perfect; as such, all his top-down directives must also be perfect, because as Aquinas probably wrote, imperfection cannot ever be the product of perfection.

Therefore, a point of view differing from Gahan's is by definition imperfect, and by extension, those expressing a differing point of view can be doing so for political reasons alone. To Gahan, why else would imperfection exist if not to disrupt his own carefully laid plans? Therefore, opposition always is political,not related to ideas and content.

If you're a Mt. Tabor Road resident, a downtown business owner, a public housing dweller, a bicyclist, a homeowner in an area intended for annexation, owner of a motor vehicle targeted with selective enforcement or supporter of David White, Mark Seabrook or Dan Coffey, you're an enemy.

Your reasons for asking questions are not important, because who questions perfection?

Only a malcontent.

It's Gahan (and to a vastly lesser extent the DemoDisneyDixiecrats) against the world, and if your captive city engineer has been using the same excuse for four long years -- (simper, whimper) we can't do anything to make a street safe for all users unless we conduct a study, which we may or may not consider at some point in the future -- then it's Gahan doing the talking, and what Gahan is saying is this:

Be good little boys and girls, take this medicine I'm giving you, and never forget to be seen glorifying New Gahania, not asking stupid questions of perfection incarnate.

Business owners want to see changes made to busy New Albany intersection, by Hayden Ristevski (WDRB)

Some New Albany business owners have major concerns about a busy intersection.

Cisa Kubley, owner of Sew Fitting, and Stacie Bale, co-owner of Road Runner Kitchen, both said the intersection of Bank and Main Streets is too dangerous.

"We spend all day listening to car tires screeching and horns being blown, because people are in a hurry to get through here,” Kubley said.

It’s hard for drivers to see oncoming traffic on Main Street if they’re attempting to turn off of Bank Street. There also is not an outlined cross walk for people trying to cross Main Street.

"It's scary as a pedestrian to try to cross this street at the width, because you always feel like you have to run,” Kubley said.

There is a crosswalk on Bank Street, but cars turning off of Main Street may have a hard time seeing pedestrians.

"You can't cross it safely,” Bale said ...

Institutional cowardice might explain why the Board of Works has routinely ignored complaints about the dangerous intersection of Main and Bank Streets ... since at least 2015.

In 2017, in 2019. Forever; no change.

Props to Stacie Bale for informing Warren Naps and the Bored of Works that the intersection of Main and Bank is hazardous for pretty much everyone who uses it, drivers included, but especially walkers.

Roadrunner Kitchen owner says dangerous intersection hurting business, by Chris Morris (Hanson's Folly)

NEW ALBANY — Stacie Bale, owner of Roadrunner Kitchen in New Albany, loves her new location at the Underground Station, at the corner of Main and Bank streets. She moved there from her old Main Street location in January.

While the new home is perfect for her restaurant, getting there is a problem — for both pedestrians and vehicles. Trying to cross Main Street from Bank Street is dangerous, Bale told the New Albany Board of Public Works & Safety on Tuesday, and she is looking for the city to add some safety measures.

"We have maintained a lot of our regulars, but tons of pedestrians won't cross the road," she said. "We have 11 businesses there [Underground Station] but due to safety you can't get there. I don't even leave work that way in my car."

Bale is hoping the city can add a traffic light at the intersection. City engineer Larry Summers said there are plans in the works to redo Main Street, from East Fifth Street to State Street "a couple years down the road."

"Part of that is to look at a signal at that location. But before we do that we have to do an analysis to see if a signal is warranted," he said. "We are looking at several different options for that intersection."

Bale is hoping something can be done there sooner rather than later.

"I love it there, and our new landlord is super," she said. "But something needs to be done there to make it safer."

Sew Fitting owner Cisa Kubley, whose shop sits in front of the Underground Station at Bank and Main streets, said the intersection is one of the most dangerous in the city.

"We hear honking and screeching tires every day. Even when there aren't cars parked on Main Street it's still very limited visibility," she said. "People drive far too fast and pay no attention to cars slowing to turn or pedestrians trying to cross."

Let's see.

It was October 29, 2017 (below) -- and Larry Summers probably gave precisely the same robotic answer, because then as now, the people charged with determining safe walking conditions do so from the DRIVER'S SEAT OF THEIR CARS, not with two feet on the ground.

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Main Street intersections at Bank and 4th are hazardous for pedestrians. Where's City Hall, apart from a state of denial?

An increased number of businesses are on the north side of Main Street. More are on the south side (Underground Station) as well as one of the larger expanses of surface parking (by the levee).

Notice the crosswalks and other means of making pedestrian passage across this wide street easier.

That's right. There are none.

The intersection of Bank and Main also is bad for drivers, especially those northbound from the surface lot. It's been two and a half years since this was first pointed out to BOW (reprint below).

Now the situation is worsening at 4th and Main, where Hull & High Water is generating a great deal of foot traffic, both from area parking and the beautified corridor.

Jeff Speck had thoughts about this. These are 17-foot traffic lanes and 8-foot parking depths. That's a whole 50 feet from one side to another, without any effort to slow traffic or assist pedestrians.

Until city officials do something about this, anything they say about "walkability" is to be taken as an insult. After all, it's "not an option," is it?

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May 13, 2015

Board of Works approves new city slogan for new city seal: "It's not an option."

There were many curiosities at yesterday's Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, held at the usual 10:00 a.m. slot which precludes so very much in the way of attendance and public input.

We learned that some folks can temporarily close streets with little effort, while others must assemble a petition. We noticed that when it comes to communications, it doesn't. It was reported that John "Human Chainsaw" Rosenbarger will be felling 30+ trees on Thomas Street, and planting 50 more ... and so on.

However, let's focus on just one of the items.

At a previous meeting, local businesses occupying the evolving Underground Station property on the corner of Main and Bank had asked the Board of Works to refit the intersection in front of their building (Main and Bank) into a 4-way stop, and to add a handicapped parking space on Main.

It wasn't surprising to hear street department commissioner Mickey Thompson speak for the board in waving away these requests, but his justifications (and his tone) were puzzling.

As for the handicapped space, Thompson feared establishing a harmful precedent, as though to say that if one business seeks a handicapped space, all of them would. Left unsaid was whether people with handicaps would find this useful.

But isn't the real question this: Why doesn't the city, through its Board of Works, proactively address parking issues and enforce parking ordinances? Why be troubled by a solitary handicapped space when no laws presently are enforced? After all, don't just do something -- stand there.

As for the 4-way stop request, which was made owing to steadily increasing traffic probably resulting from the simple fact that finally there is commercial traffic where before there was none, Thompson could do no better than grunt: "It's not an option." 

The obvious question that should have been asked and answered: "Why Not? Why isn't it an option?" 

We already know that through the top-down marionette otherwise known as the Board of Works and Safety (that word again), the Democratic municipal machine is delaying all movement toward street grid reform for 18 months or more. However, as the intersection of Main and Bank attests, the grid already is unsafe, and in the regrettable vacuum created by Jeff Gahan's politically-inspired and plainly cowardly deferrals, our streets are becoming more unsafe by the day.

Jeff, Warren, Adam ... yo, guys, can we at least have a Band-Aid to staunch the bleeding?

Even a wooden clothespin in place of the necessary tourniquet might help us to stay alive and watch you ineffectually fiddle.

Following are some fair and balanced pros and cons of the 4-way stop.

The Great Stop Sign Experiment, by Sam Newberg (Streets MN)

... In the big picture my personal hope and goal is for my neighborhood (and city) to be a safer place for all ages to walk and bike. If that means cars have to drive slower or there is more congestion in places or at certain times of the day, I’m willing to accept that. If we build and manage our roads to accommodate rush-hour traffic, the livability of our city will suffer at all hours.

HWC dissolves into laughter: "For a More Walkable City, Replace Signals with All-Way Stops."

Randy at Destinations Booksellers can get you a copy of Jeff Speck's Walkable City Rules. Mine's waiting to be picked up when I get a minute. Gahan administration functionaries are encouraged to read the book and see how their master failed the city with his botched two-way "modernization"; for them, ordering on-line with a plain brown snail-mail wrapper might be the best course. Dear Leader would be very unhappy if he caught them thinking on the job, wouldn't he?

---

For a More Walkable City, Replace Signals with All-Way Stops, by Jeff Speck (Streetsblog USA)

Rule 76: Replace Signals with All-way Stops
In many places, stop signs are the safest solution.

For many years, cities inserted traffic signals at their intersections as a matter of pride, with the sentiment that more signals made a place more modern and cosmopolitan. Recently, that dynamic has begun to change, as concerns about road safety have caused many to question whether signals are the best solution for intersections experiencing moderate traffic.

Research now suggests that all-way stop signs, which ask motorists to approach each intersection as a negotiation, turn out to be much safer than signals.

This greater safety has multiple causes. Unlike with signals, no law-abiding driver ever passes an all-way stop sign at more than a very low speed, and there is considerable eye contact among users. People walking and biking are generally waved through first. And nobody tries to beat the light.

While it would be useful to have more data, the main study on this subject, from Philadelphia, is compelling. It recounts the 1978 removal of 462 traffic signals due to a 1977 state ruling disallowing signals at intersections with limited traffic. In almost all cases, the signals were replaced by all-way stop signs. The overall reduction in crashes was 24 percent. Severe injury crashes were reduced 62.5 percent. Severe pedestrian injury crashes were reduced by 68 percent.

While some pedestrians and drivers prefer signalized intersections, these data are too conclusive to ignore. Until a contradicting study is completed, cities should be compelled to conduct an audit of current signalization regimes to determine which signals may be eliminated.

When converting signals to stop signs, cities face the choice of two-way and all-way stops. Clearly, if one street contains tremendously more traffic than the other, a two-way stop makes more sense. However, there is no doubt that all-way stops should be used wherever they do not pose an undue burden, as they are 50 percent to 80 percent safer than two-ways.

Additionally, two-way stops hurt walkability, as they require people crossing the major street to dodge traffic. For this reason, it seems wise to leave signals in place in locations where an all-way stop is not justified.

One great byproduct of converting signals to stops is money saved: stop signs are much cheaper to install and maintain than signals. This fact is important to keep in mind as one considers the conversion of a downtown’s streets from one-way to two-way. The principal cost of these reversions is signal reorientation. However, while signals are almost always required where multilane one-ways intersect, they are often not required where two-lane two-ways intersect. Moreover, when two-lane two-ways cross at a four-way stop sign, there is often no need or use for left-turn lanes, and that pavement can be used instead for parking or cycling.

A word is also needed about the driver experience that accompanies the replacement of signals with all-way stops. It is true that, compared to a network of signals, a network of stops signs result in a drive that is interrupted by more pauses. But these pauses are all quite brief.

Never does the driver have to sit and wait for a light to turn from red to green. Such waits at signalized intersections are often 30 seconds long or longer, and, across a network, can add up to a lot of time wasted. Surprisingly, more stops can mean a quicker commute.

Finally, some air-quality advocates will argue against new stop signs due to the additional pollution caused by cars stopping and starting. This argument is accurate, but only in isolation, ignoring the smaller carbon footprint of more walkable places. As stop signs make places safer to walk, they can be expected to reduce overall driving, countering this impact.

There is no reason to conduct an expensive study on this subject. For each intersection with traffic that is moderate and fairly balanced, conduct a one-week test of an all-way stop configuration. If problems don’t arise, make it permanent.

Hemorrhaging votes, an increasingly disoriented Deaf Gahan sidesteps Mt. Tabor-Klerner intersection ... for now.

In a stunning roundabout turnabout, Deaf Gahan dispatched his Minister of Engineering to this morning's meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety, and with little fanfare, erased his previous line in the sand -- and drew a new one to the west of the intersection of Mt. Tabor Road and Klerner Lane.

In the aftermath, City Hall's patented Tilt-A-Whirl propaganda wheel was utterly predictable: Don't you see, peasants? Dear Leader listened to your comments at the most recent public meeting.

Are your hip boots on?

On January 2nd, the City of New Albany held the third public information meeting for the Mt. Tabor Road Project. After receiving feedback and comments from residents and engineers, the City of New Albany has removed plans to modify the intersection at Mt. Tabor Road and Klerner Lane. As part of this federally-funded project, the four-way stop will remain ...

... “We will keep working to improve the roadway and infrastructure at Mt. Tabor Road,” stated Mayor Jeff Gahan. “We welcome and appreciate the input and feedback from our neighbors and business owners. Please stay connected by reading the News and Tribune and by visiting our website.”

Ah, but lest we forget, Team Gahan didn't want this meeting to occur in the first place. John Rosenbarger, Larry Summers, et al -- they publicly sulked and pouted when INDOT reminded them of their legal obligations v.v. the intersection's change in configuration, and as Gahan babbled incoherently ("that's why we're here") ...

 ... the functionaries smirked.

The Jeffersonville chain newspaper's Morris properly waited a bit to acquire quotes from the Taborite objectors, who did their homework.

It was worth it.

Plan for Mt. Tabor Road-Klerner Lane intersection on hold

NEW ALBANY — Bidding for phase one of the Mount Tabor Road project begins Feb. 7 and work is slated to start in April or May. But there will be one major change moving forward. Phase one won't include the intersection of Mount Tabor Road and Klerner Lane ...

... One of those residents, Scott Whalen, said he was happy to hear the city is taking a second look at its plans for the intersection.

"It is great news that the city has chosen to take another look at the traffic conditions at the intersection while they address the primary reason for the project — the hillside leading to Slate Run Creek," Whalen said via email. "As not only a stakeholder in the project, but also as an engineer, it is important to ensure the measured conditions represent the typical use. Performing the traffic counts for only 24 hours and while the intersection was the detour for McDonald Lane did not meet this criteria. The re-evaluation is what we at the corner have been asking for" ...

... INDOT told the city that it should complete an additional information document and involve the public with its plans again to become NEPA complaint, which is a requirement for federally funded projects.

"Although I’m relieved to learn somebody finally heard the residents, it’s disheartening to know that all parties involved have already spent thousands of dollars on legal fees. Why did we (the local residents) have to reach out to the top state politicians and INDOT management for our own city to listen to us," resident Kelly Feiock said in an email. "We’re not shy and we’re willing to talk. All of this wasted time and money could have been avoided five years ago with open communication."

So, really -- why the change of heart? Politics -- first, last and always.

It isn't so much about disappearing votes in the 6th district, Gahan's traditional home field. The 6th already is lost to Democrats, probably for a generation. Rather, it's about panicked quarantine.

No one's buying City Hall's limp palaver about the housing authority putsch, and with each passing day, more Democrats are looking at the dynamism of Dan Canon and Liz Watson, contrasting them with Gahan's agoraphobic, bunker-confined DINO disguise, and scratching their heads in bewilderment.

Dan's and Liz's direction is incompatible with Jeffrey's, and it's likely that DemoDisneyDixiecratic party chairman Adam Dickey has been cooing seductively in Gahan's ear, but the irony remains, because apart from his own self-generated mythology, the mayor is far more of a liability to the party than an asset.

And that's fine by the resistance. Don't forget: #FireGahan2019

VIDEO: "That's why we're here," Gahan flails amid a pack of lies in this classic footage from last night's Mt. Tabor project meeting.

Thanks to whomever posted this video at YouTube.

There's a reason why the forever agoraphobic Jeff Gahan's handlers keep him secured in the bunker, and it's because the moment any public scenario strays from the script, he cannot improvise. The more he tries, the worse it gets -- and the angrier he becomes.

In this video, observe his petulance escalate with each "that's why we're here," until he's demanding to know why citizens aren't listening to him, even as he insists his Potemkin facade of a meeting was to prove he's listening.


Chins up, Mt. Taborites. Your comments may be "unlikely" to produce change, but in 2019, your votes will help forcibly detach Jeff Gahan from the public teat.

Until the past couple of days, I felt sorry for Larry Summers. Sadly, it's time to get past this, and to get started.

#FireGahan2019

Chins up, Mt. Taborites. Your comments may be "unlikely" to produce change, but in 2019, your votes will help forcibly detach Jeff Gahan from the public teat.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed how short John Rosenbarger's leash has become?

Any time the former Rasputin of Redevelopment becomes part of the public record, city officials hurriedly reel him back in, panic-stricken, as though they're actually aware of Pinocchio's chart-busting toxicity quotient.

Why not retire Rosenbarger -- or does he have copies of the same photos Coffey keeps in a safe deposit box at Birdseye Bank & Trust?

To the overarching point: If one plans for farce and debacle, these are the likely outcomes.

Jeff Gahan does not react maturely to being challenged, and when he is, expect scorched earth. It isn't enough for his opponents to lose. They must be ritualistically and publicly demeaned and humiliated, as with last night's shambolic "public information" meeting.

To his weird sort of credit, city engineer Larry Summers -- pushed to the front to take eyes off Rosenbarger's sneering depravity -- doesn't even try to lie (underlined in the passage below). By Team Gahan standards, this constitutes heroic virtue, and the newspaper's reporter helpfully records every word.

Last night's public information spoonfeeding gave Gahan's functionaries the opportunity to taunt the rubes who stand in the way of auto-centric enrichment. You don't know what's best for your neighborhood.

Dear Leader does. but remember that paybacks are hell -- and 2019 draws ever closer.

Residents voice opinions at Mount Tabor Road public info session, by Danielle Grady (That Jeffersonville Newspaper)

Comments 'highly unlikely' to produce change

NEW ALBANY — A group of New Albany residents got what they had been asking for on Tuesday: another chance for public comment on the reconstruction of Mount Tabor Road. But responses were mixed on whether residents thought the information session would result in change ...

 ... INDOT told the city that it should complete an additional information document and involve the public with its plans again in order to become NEPA complaint, which is a requirement for federally funded projects.

The city could have just completed a memo to file for the public, said Larry Summers, New Albany’s city engineer, but because of the amount of public outreach to INDOT, the department recommended a full information session.

While the city will be taking the public comments made at the meeting, looking over them and submitting them to INDOT with their information document, Summers said it was “highly unlikely” that there would be any changes made to the city’s plan for Mount Tabor Road. Instead, the meeting was more about informing the public about the project’s final details.

“I mean, the city is always looking to hear public comments, but at this point, we’re letting the project in February so the plans are final,” Summers said.

He did add that if there was something “substantial” brought up, the city could make a change.

"City of New Albany Under Fire Amid Accusations of Ignoring INDOT Policies" as Transparency for Mount Tabor group issues scathing press release.

Previously: Here are the questions you can ask at Tuesday evening's meeting about the Mt. Tabor Deforestation and Auto Enrichment Project.

We've just received this press release from Transparency for Mt. Tabor. Take note of tonight's meeting, and best of luck to the insurgents.

---

City of New Albany Under Fire Amid Accusations of Ignoring INDOT Policies

Contact: Transparency for Mount Tabor - Scott Whalen or Kelly Feiock 

New Albany, IN (January 2, 2018) – Another large crowd is expected at the public meeting tonight hosted by the City of New Albany to unveil yet another plan for the Mount Tabor Road Redevelopment Project. The project’s initial goal was to correct erosion problems running along the north side of the road into the creek below. Revisions to the plans will be displayed at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Albany at 7 pm.

In addition to correcting the erosion problems, the original plan in 2013 called for scrapping the current 4-way stop with stop signs and inserting a roundabout into an area that a proper roundabout would not fit. More than 300 residents angrily voiced their opposition to this idea, begging the city to fix the erosion and leave the rest of the road alone.

A few months later Mayor Jeff Gahan reversed his stance, visiting three of the homes on Christmas Eve, which are located on the intersection of Mount Tabor and Klerner Lane, personally telling the residents that his official response to the public hearing and the Categorical Exclusion (CE) was that the intersection would remain the same. It was possible to change to a traffic signal in the future, but it would be in a separate project if or when that happened. He followed up with mailing a letter to all affected residents stating “I recently decided to eliminate the roundabout from the project. The plan is now to retain the 4-way stop.” Gahan continued by saying “This decision was based upon the public comments and concerns received from the surrounding neighborhoods.”

Fast forward three years to June 2016. Residents begin receiving letters notifying them the project was moving forward, appraisers would be visiting homes and acquisition offers to buy land would follow soon after. Yet, when the Right of Way (ROW) Agents presented the offers to residents, they showed plans marked “preliminary.” And when residents asked for a copy of the plans that actually said “Final,” they learned the plans were not yet final. Gossip swirled as neighbors began to speculate that the City of New Albany was going to change the plans again.

Unable to obtain answers from Gahan’s employees, residents turned to INDOT for answers, as INDOT must sign off any federally-funded projects. In December 2016 INDOT confirmed the 4-way stop was now to become a signalized light, and the two lanes of traffic would now insert a left turn lane. Once again residents are furious with Team Gahan. Some had already signed contracts selling portions of their land, believing the atmosphere of a 4-way stop and two lanes of traffic would remain the same. Others, who refused to sign fearing the neighborhood was about to change, have been sued and their land obtained via eminent domain. Approximately 50% of the residents are refusing to give in, and are now going to jury trial against the city.

Resident Scott Whalen kept questioning INDOT officials about policies, and asked shouldn’t residents have seen the final plans before properties were appraised, contracts signed or eminent domain granted? How can damages be calculated when the appraiser doesn’t know the end result? Finally, INDOT agreed that the residents were to be notified of the changes. Residents didn’t just want to know about the changes – they want to know how INDOT signed off on a major change of scope, and not be aware that the residents didn’t know.

Lack of communication has been an ongoing issue between city officials, INDOT and residents. INDOT requires the city mail surveys to residents for a noise analysis – but the surveys were never mailed. INDOT requires any reasonable requests be considered during negotiations - but the ROW agent didn’t tell the city about the requests. The city told INDOT that an increase in traffic warranted the change from a 4-way stop to a traffic signal – but it didn’t tell INDOT that the two traffic analysis it ordered were done when parallel streets were closed and traffic was rerouted though Mount Tabor Road. In fact, a traffic study has never been conducted while all roads are open and no traffic rerouted, so there is no base line as to the average daily amount of cars to travel Mount Tabor Road.

The last straw came when residents received a letter from the city stating trees were to be cut down along Mount Tabor Road, beginning tomorrow, January 3. With so many questions and no answers, the issues have escalated to state officials who will be discussing the project today prior to the public meeting. State Representative Ed Clere plans to speak with INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness with hopes that INDOT will finally become accountable for the project that it approved, yet doesn’t know anything about.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is located at 1752 Scheller Lane, New Albany, IN 47150. The public is encouraged to bring written comments or questions they would like answered and filed on public record with INDOT.

Here are the questions you can ask at Tuesday evening's meeting about the Mt. Tabor Deforestation and Auto Enrichment Project.

There's an important meeting on Tuesday night with regard to the grandiloquently (read: "inaccurately") titled Mt. Tabor Road Restoration and Pedestrian Safety Project.

December 22:
Comments on the pre-determined Mt. Tabor deforestation and auto enrichment outcome can be given on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church (1752 Scheller Lane).

December 28
Team Gahan swears its engineering contractor will listen to your comments about the Mt. Tabor deforestation project at the mere formality on January 2.


Kelly Feiock is one of the neighborhood community leaders involved with reformatting the malign Rosenbargerization of the project, and she made this comment on our post of the 28th.

It's important to note that residents may write down specific questions they have but New Albany refuses to answer. The City and engineers must answer each question in writing and submit to INDOT.

Written questions and comments may be given to the engineers of Beam, Longest and Neff at the meeting Tuesday, or if residents will not be able to attend the meeting the letters may be sent to the engineers within 7 days of the meeting:

Brian Shaw
c/o Beam, Longest and Neff
8126 Castleton Road
Indianapolis, IN 46250
bshaw@b-l-n.com

Following are a few examples of the points being made to City Hall and INDOT by those neighborhood residents contesting the project's parameters.

Judging by the sheer size of the mailing list, my guess is most residents who need this information already have received it, and so I've edited it into bullet points. If you would like to peruse the details, let me know and I can forward the e-mail I received.

Examples of deficiencies to share with INDOT:

1. Indiana Department of Transportation Traffic Noise Analysis Procedure was not followed.
2. Acquisition of real property for federal and federal aid projects was not followed.
3. The City and its engineers claimed an increase in traffic, yet failed to provide a reasonable and valid traffic analysis warranting the replacement of the current 4-way stop with a signalized intersection.

Point #3 has its own list of conceivable questions.

• Instead of saying "I don’t think there is enough traffic on Mount Tabor Road to warrant a traffic signal," ask them how many cars travel Mount Tabor Road on a daily basis now that Rainbow Drive and McDonald Lane are open, and no traffic is being rerouted on Mount Tabor.
• Ask them to provide the document stating that this project requires sidewalks on both sides of the road.
• Ask them to provide the document stating that the sidewalks must be five feet wide.
• Ask them for the documentation stating the five foot grass buffers improve the safety of pedestrians.
• Ask them for a detailed planned to replace the trees that were cut down.
• Ask them to provide a detailed plan of replacing the trees that were cut down…. How many? What kind? How big?
• Ask them who they hired to maintain the grass and sidewalks in the new ROW.
• Ask them who should we call if the snow plow hasn’t cleared the snow in the ROW blocking access to our driveway.
• Ask them what money is being used as the 20% local match.

Team Gahan's doctrine of inflated self-importance typically causes it to react harshly to grassroots activism. As such, it's crucial for concerned citizens to keep pushing and attend this meeting. NAC hopes to be able to swing by and observe.

Team Gahan swears its engineering contractor will listen to your comments about the Mt. Tabor deforestation project at the mere formality on January 2.

Taken BEFORE Gahan's NAHA putsch.

Way back on December 22, we provided fresh news (thanks S) about an unexpected chance for the public to play its part in fulfilling the city's legal obligations, so the Mt. Tabor Deforestation and Campaign Finance Enrichment Project might finally begin.

Comments on the pre-determined Mt. Tabor deforestation and auto enrichment outcome can be given on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church (1752 Scheller Lane).

The Bookseller immediately issued an appropriate reminder.

As you well know, a "public information meeting" as run by this administration will not allow for any public comments by the citizenry. These are so far removed from "public hearings" as to be from different planets. I hope you will use your platform to remind the mice how such meetings go - first with divide and conquer breakouts where one might ask a question of a single official, but no opportunity to publicly address concerns.

Five whole days later, the News and Tribune somehow meandered around to the story, including an half-assertion this meeting will be different; this time around, there'll be some down-home, old-school listening going on.

Uh huh. Does anyone have a grain of salt the size of size of Jeff Gahan's ego?

Meeting scheduled to discuss Mount Tabor Road project, by Chris Morris

NEW ALBANY — It looks like residents will once again have an opportunity to voice their opinion on the proposed changes and improvements to Mount Tabor Road coming in 2018 ...

... Because the project is federally funded, the city must follow the National Environmental Policy Act. According to Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Manning, the approved environmental document shows the project will involve a four-way stop, which is what exists now as previously reported by the News and Tribune. INDOT reviewed documents submitted by the consultant at the request of Mount Tabor Road and Klerner Lane residents. State officials discovered that while the city changed the intersection design, the NEPA documents don't reflect this change ...

... At the meeting representatives from the engineering design firm Beam, Longest and Neff, LLC will be available to answer questions from concerned residents.

This is amazing.

It's been so long (2013) since this project was minted that it actually predates the time of HWC Engineering receiving all such contracts. Let's hope Beam, Longest and Neff have been updated on cash-stuffed envelope protocol since David Duggins hit the pay-packet lottery at the New Albany Housing Authority.

Hilariously, although probably inadvertently, Morris recycled previous thoughts from John "Pinocchio" Rosenbarger, still merrily denying culpability in ignoring this "final public hearing" requirement, and still just as happily suckling on the government's teat after all these long, wasted years.

John Rosenbarger, New Albany Public Works projects supervisor, said in a previous interview the city intends to build a signal as planned. He thinks a signal will work best at that location and will improve traffic flow. "You can time signals ... You can control flow with a signal. You can't with a four-way stop," he said.

As an aside, it's instructive to understand that deep down inside, Wile E. Rosenberger has his own embittered and self-serving complaint, which might be explained like this: he's chronically under-appreciated.

Such a tragedy.

It seems that from the start of Rosenbarger's career as veritable Rasputin of Redevelopment, those politicians for whom he has toiled, and the voters who placed them in office, both are irretrievably stupid.

They simply have not ever grasped the sheer grandeur of Rosenbarger's professional essence, and because of this, while he forever and always has possessed the very best and most brilliant Wile E. solution to any problem, seldom was he allowed to bring these solutions to bear -- because, had he undertaken to argue for what is correct from a sense of deep and abiding principle, the single worst outcome of all might have occurred.

This being that Rosenbarger might have been fired -- sacked, cashiered, terminated, made redundant, discharged, tossed, dismissed, axed, given a pink slip, kicked out and sent packing.

In turn, this means that the only deep and abiding principle Rosenbarger ever possessed was personal job security. If you're not already hugging a commode in revulsion, there's more here: Ranting on John Rosenbarger's fundamental contradictions in the aftermath of an atrocious day in the neighborhood.

#FireGahan2019
#FireHimToo

Comments on the pre-determined Mt. Tabor deforestation and auto enrichment outcome can be given on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church (1752 Scheller Lane).

The Green Mouse received a message.

It looks like the city is posting the notice for the Mt. Tabor project today - they are trying to skirt open public comments again. They are also cutting out half of the project citing money issues. Maybe if they would leave the intersection alone, they could do their sidewalks all the way.

Indeed. I don't suppose any of this will prevent the deforestation slated to begin the following day.

Gahan Doublespeak Blues (Husqvarna Mix): Say goodbye to your trees, Mt. Tabor Road residents, because it's time again to "improve the tree canopy" by flattening a few hundred of them.

Egg meets Pinocchio Rosenbarger's scowling visage as city delays Mt. Tabor clear-cutting until January 3.

Here's the latest ultimatum.

Source: News and Tribune
Category: Public Notices
Published Date: December 22, 2017

Notice Details

Notice of Public Information Meeting 

The City of New Albany will hold a public information meeting on Tuesday January 2, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. for the reconstruction of Mt. Tabor Road between Grant Line Road and Charlestown Road. The public information meeting will be held in Wagner Hall at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, located at 1752 Scheller Lane, New Albany, Indiana. 

The purpose of the public information meeting is to present additional information on the Klerner Lane and Mt. Tabor Road intersection, development of long-term slope stability solutions and overall project limits. The presentation will afford interested persons an opportunity to become better informed and provide written comments. 

The purpose of the project is to reconstruct Mt. Tabor Road between Grant Line Road and Charlestown Road, implement intersection improvements at Klerner Lane, construct curbs and gutters for storm water control, and provide pedestrian pathways. The total project length is approximately 1.1 miles and follows the existing horizontal alignment of Mt. Tabor Road from Grant Line Road to Charlestown Road. 

At the Klerner Lane and Mt. Tabor Road intersection, a four -way stop controlled intersection was proposed. As part of the final design, the four way stop controlled intersection was revised to a signal controlled intersection, based on a formal Traffic Signal Warrant Study and Capacity Analysis that was completed. 

In addition, as part of the final design the project limits were revised to more closely match the allocated construction funding. Final plans were developed to reconstruct Mt Tabor Road from Grant Line Road to approximately 200 feet past the proposed signalized intersection with Klerner Lane (Project 1). The remainder of the project from 200 feet past Klerner Lane to Charlestown Road is now anticipated to be constructed in a future project (Project 2). 

Written comments will be accepted at the public information meeting and for seven (7) days after the public information meeting is held. Representatives from the engineering design firm, Beam, Longest and Neff, LLC, will be available to address questions. In accordance with the "Americans With Disabilities Act", if you have a disability for which the City of New Albany needs to provide accommodations, please call Mr. Brian Shaw, of Beam, Longest and Neff, LLC at (317) 849-5832, or send an email to bshaw@b-l-n.com by December 29, 2017.