Public Works staff held a community meeting on September 10th, 2009 to hear residents' thoughts about reducing the number of lanes on the upper portions of Moeser Lane between Shevlin Drive and Arlington Blvd. The proposal included changing the road to a single lane uphill and downhill with the addition of left turn pockets at each cross street. There would be no physical change to the roadway pavement or curbs - there simply would be a new striping scheme. Since the roadway will be repaved in the near future, the City will have to restripe the road anyway. So this change in lanes would be at a minimal cost.

The benefits presented were to increase sight distance for cars trying to make left turns onto or out of side streets. It would also provide a wide shoulder area to accommodate pedestrians (of which there are quite a few), and provide for moderated speeds.

The overwhelming sentiment of those in attendance (approximately 50 people), as well as, emails and letters received was that the lanes should remain as they are, and the vegetation in the medians and along the roadsides should be trimmed back significantly to address the sight distance issue. A common concern was that by reducing the road to a single lane in each direction, there would be no way to pass slow moving vehicles causing inconvenience and frustration.

In response to this feedback, the Public Works department conducted a significant vegetation removal along this roadway. We have also decided to keep the roadway at the current configuration of two lanes in each direction. However, when the roadway is paved and restriped it will include left and right shoulder areas (approximately 2 and 5 feet wide, respectively) that should help keep pedestrians and vehicles separated and somewhat moderate speeds, and will provide some additional striping where the cross streets lie between the uphill and downhill lanes (medians) to bring more orderly circulation in those zones. Finally, additional striping will be provided on Moeser Lane at Shevlin Drive to regulate left-turn and through movements in this area.

The paving work has been postponed until early next year, so the striping changes will wait until that time. In the meantime, staff may put down some temporary striping in the median zones in an effort to determine the most effective treatment.