Waupaca council votes to divert Park Avenue traffic
By Angie Landsverk
Left turns onto Waupaca’s Park Avenue from Churchill Street will be restricted with flashing lights around the beginning and end of school days.
It is being done to address traffic congestion there during those times.
The common council unanimously approved the ordinance amendment when it met on Nov. 4.
All council members were present.
The amendment was on first reading that evening.
However, the council voted to waive the first reading and immediately hold the second reading and vote on it.
“I think the sooner that we do this, the better it will be for that intersection,” Mayor Brian Smith said prior to the vote.
The lights will be programmed to flash from 7-8 a.m. and 2:45-3:15 p.m. on school days.
Justin Berrens, the city’s public works director, said the city wants to place the sign on its official traffic map so the police department is able to enforce the no left turn movement during those times.
Police Chief Brian Hoelzel said many warnings were issued there during the past year.
Temporary signage was placed there with cooperation from the city’s police and public works departments, as well as the Waupaca School District, Berrens said.
Traffic congestion
That followed conversations that began about a year ago with the school district and state Department of Transportation about the traffic congestion in that area.
Berrens said the school district was especially concerned about how the congestion affected the timing of busing.
The congestion also affected parents who drop off and pick up their children at school.
He said they came up with the idea to restrict left turns onto Park Avenue by doing a trial with temporary signage.
The signage worked well, with vehicle backups noticeably less and busing times reduced, Berrens wrote in a memo to the mayor and council.
“Because of this success, it was decided to install a permanent sign that could be enforceable,” he said.
Hoelzel said if an officer has not been at that intersection with a squad, people still attempted to make the left turn there.
He said complaints were also received from businesses in that area about drivers using the parking lots of the businesses to cut through to Park Avenue.
The left turn restriction during those times has worked out well for traffic flow, and also for the safety of the children crossing the street, Hoelzel said.
City Attorney Tom Hart said the fine for those who do not obey the left turn restriction when the lights are flashing will be $175.30.