Change would affect County X
By Robert Cloud
The New London Board of Public Works continues to discuss lowering the speed limit on County Trunk X.
Waupaca County Highway Commissioner Casey Beyersdorf presented a traffic study to the board when it met on Monday, Nov. 30.
The board is considering whether to drop the speed limit on County X/Wolf River Avenue from the boat launch east to Oshkosh Street.
Currently, the speed limit is 35 mph.
The board asked the county to look at reducing it to 25 mph.
Because the road falls under county jurisdiction, the county must ultimately decide whether to lower the speed limit.
Beyersdorf reviewed 10 years of traffic crashes along the 2,400-foot stretch of County X under consideration.
During that time, there was one fatality, which occurred on June 13, 2013, at the intersection of Wolf River Avenue and Werner-Allen Road.
Two of the crashes resulted in serious injuries and one had minor injuries. The rest had no injuries.
Traffic volume, speed
The county also monitored traffic volume and speed along Wolf River Avenue.
From Nov. 4-10, 105 vehicles traveled eastbound on the road.
Of those, 101 vehicles drove at or below the posted speed limit of 35 mph. Four vehicles traveled at a low risk speed of 36-39 mph.
“We currently don’t have too big of an issue with the posted speed limit and the travelers during this early November time frame,” Beyersdorf said, regarding the traffic study. “What it doesn’t tell me is how do I know if your city police department wasn’t sitting out there that week.”
Beyersdorf said if the city council requested a 25 mph speed limit, he would take that to the county highway commission, which would then make a recommendation to the county board.
Ald. Fred Zaug, who is a member of both New London’s Board of Public works and the Waupaca County Highway Commission, said he would bring forth whatever the city decided.
Beyersdorf noted there are 13 driveways along that section of County X, most of them commercial.
He said the distance between driveways is less than 200 feet, which is a consideration when reducing speed limits.
The Board of Public Works also wants to install a crosswalk on Wolf River Avenue.
The New London School District’s bus garage is located on the south side of the road.
Bus drivers and other staff park their vehicles across the street.
Board members discussed how to make crossing the street safer.
Among their suggestions at Monday’s meeting were warning signs and a street light.
Eventually, the city may put an ADA accessible crosswalk there.
However, the crosswalk would require cutting the curb and making a slope down to the street, as well as painting the street.
The speed limit and the crosswalk will be discussed further at the board’s next meeting.
In other business, the board recommended placing stop signs along Lawrence Street to slow down north/south traffic.
The board is examining a long-term plan to place stop or yield signs at its approximately 70 uncontrolled intersections.