My last post was partly an attempt to show how people can look at the same numbers and draw different conclusions. These one time sample numbers that we get are interesting but they don't give us the whole picture.
Here are the updates to my last post.
-The City Engineering department has maps with traffic counts from 2003 to 2006 available here: http://www.ci.traverse-city.mi.us/city-engineering/maps
The image below is from the 2006 Traffic Count map. My assumption is the green stars and numbers are where traffic counts were performed. I have circled the north and south Cass St count locations.
S Cass St has a count of 13,709.
N Cass St by Grandview Pkwy has a count of 3,235.
Missing is any count performed between the red circles north of Eighth St and south of Front St. Why not?
This north of Eighth St count for Cass is a very important number, and it may be the one number that does not lie. The Gordie-Fraser Engineering Study indicated that Cass St north and south of Eighth varied by only about 1000 daily trips. If that is true then there is no way Boardman Lake Avenue will do what was promised to the Old Town Neighborhood Association.
Or do we do what a City official stated Tuesday night after the BLA meeting in an informal discussion - "don't pay any attention to the traffic count numbers". If that is the case then don't use the numbers to argue for the road.
As I have said before, Old Town was promised a road, not a solution.
-The last census shows a very modest increase of 142 people in the city limits, which reverses the loss of population I reported in my last post.
-The number of people wanting a "No Road" option could give the impression that people are anti-road. But voting for "No Road" is more about expressing a dislike of any of the presented options.
That is why I and many other people want to see a larger traffic plan put in place. A larger vision - a grand vision perhaps?
