Richard Young just wants to safely cross the intersection of Liberty and Carlton avenues in the Heights section with his two children.
Back in December, Spruce Street, located four blocks south of Carlton, was closed as part of the state Department of Transportation’s new $20 million Pulaski Skyway interim repair project, which called for other detour routes.
That meant that between Tonnelle and Liberty, Carlton Avenue was changed from a one-way street to a two-way street to allow traffic coming from Highway 1 & 9 to enter local roads.
Also changed was the direction of one-way traffic on Liberty Avenue, which crosses Carlton, from northbound to southbound so local residents could get to Spruce Street.
Young, in addressing the City Council at their April 8 meeting and in communication with city officials in weeks prior to the meeting, said these changes have created a “dangerous intersection” and made his neighborhood “unbearable to live in.”
Young was accompanied by his wife, his 3-year and 4-year-old sons, and many neighbors who wanted action of any kind.
The City Council at their April 8 meeting did so by approving by an 8-0 vote an ordinance reversing the direction of Liberty Avenue to one way northbound to cut down on potential collisions.
That means the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has to put down signs and pavement markings to indicate the one-way northbound direction within 20 days of passage of the ordinance.
“Somebody is going to get hit by a car, someone is going to die.” – Richard Young
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Not happy
During the meeting, Young said the council’s approval of Liberty Avenue of making it one way northbound is only “putting a Band-Aid on a big wound” and pleaded with the council to also reverse back Carlton Avenue to one-way west.
“Somebody is going to get hit by a car, someone is going to die,” Young said.
Young said that he had videotaped on an almost daily basis the morning rush hour traffic that passes his home near the intersection of Liberty and Carlton avenues.
He recounted one of potentially harrowing situations that he has noticed.
“In just the past two weeks, a truck and a bus bent a new stop sign two days after [it was] put up,” he said. “Trucks coming down a one way and continue to go west and east on Carlton Avenue. A school bus filled with children coming out the one way, just barely missing a collision, and cars continually not stopping at the stop signs.”
Young also pointed out that the DOT had visited his neighborhood to study how to slow down traffic coming from Highway 1 & 9 such as installing speed humps and strips, only for the DOT to tell him that Carlton Avenue was not wide enough to put in the safety measures.
But he countered that Carlton Avenue is also not wide enough to sustain traffic coming off Highway 1 & 9.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.