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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Committee Minutes 12.09.25 (APPROVED) Attendees: Al Hartman Kris Larson Jim Collins, Transportation Director Evelyn Meuret Deb Martin Sean Lynch Excused: DJ Nichols, Jeff Armstrong Also Present: Lieutenant Kraemer (OPD) The meeting was called to order by Al Hartman who gave a quick overview for the public comment protocol. Since there were no requests for comment, Chairperson Hartman requested roll call and approval of minutes. Roll Call & Approval of Minutes Evelyn Meuret made a motion to approve the minutes from the November meeting and requested the word e-mail be corrected in the Staff Statement section prior to finalizing, seconded by Kris Larson. Motion carried after roll-call vote. 1. Request for two-way stop sign-controlled intersection at Mason Street and West 6th Avenue Director Collins gave an overview of this request stating it was a follow-up to the school district consultant’s recommendation in accordance with the Transit Impact Analysis they performed for Franklin Elementary. Originally, he was going to wait until the school’s project was further along but decided it would be smart to present the request for approval to current Council vs. explaining the agenda item to the new set of council members. Kris Larson made a motion to approve, seconded by Sean Lynch. Motion carried after roll-called vote. 2. Request for a two-way yield-controlled intersection at Reichow Street and West 6th Avenue This is also a follow-up item in accordance with the Traffic Impact Analysis performed for the Franklin Elementary site. A question was asked by Kris as to why a yield is being recommended instead of a stop. Jim said there isn’t enough volume in the area to warrant a stop-sign, therefore he agrees with the vendor recommendation to make this a two-way yield-controlled intersection. Al Hartman said he is familiar with the area and agrees it has very little traffic, therefore that seems appropriate due to the dead-end-street and cul-de-sac layout. Kris Larson made a motion to approve, seconded by Evelyn Meuret. Motion carried after roll-called vote. Transportation Committee Meeting Minutes December 9, 2025 2 | Page 3. Request to remove the parking restrictions on parts of Central Street, New York Avenue and Tennessee Avenue. Al Hartman asked if there are any concerns about the Central Street being narrow in regards to emergency vehicles. Jim Collins said parking probably won’t be in heavy demand in the area and with the road being 28’ wide, it would still allow a 12’ travel lane if vehicles were parked on both sides which should be sufficient. The plan is to monitor these areas and if issues arise, restrictions can be revisited as a future agenda item. Jim also said these three changes can be handled as one item vs. individually as it is just to remove these parking restrictions that are no longer needed since the opening of Vel Phillips Middle School. The area near Merritt Street used to be a bus stop but it was moved so that parking restriction is no longer needed. He also informed the committee members that home owners in the area were sent a formal meeting notice, however he received no feedback against making these minor changes. Kris Larson made a motion to approve, seconded by Evelyn Meuret. Motion carried after roll-called vote. 4. Recommendation on locations for future Rectangular Rapidly Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) Jim said as a general rule, Council usually approves about $50k per year towards items to improve bike and pedestrian safety throughout the city and using these funds for RRFBs is a good fit. He wanted to get some feedback from the Committee on preferred/priority locations. Requests for these flashers have increased lately after a student pedestrian accident at the intersection of Elwood/Vinland and Murdock. Adding flashers to the round-a-bouts that do not currently have them are also possible locations for RRFB’s to help pedestrians cross more safely by increasing awareness to traffic. As far as expense, the single crossings are about $24k because they only require 4 poles, but the round-a-bouts require more materials and would be closer to $40k each. Jim said he put it on the agenda to get feedback from the Committee and possibly develop a priority list as funds become available. He said this item is for discussion only, no vote is necessary at this time. Deb Martin said her top priority is any intersection involving kids walking to and from schools to improve safety. Kris said he echoes what Deb suggests and was wondering about the Pedestrian signal flashing near Smith and Jackson vs. an RRFB. Jim informed the committee RRFBs are already planned at this crossing in conjunction with a WisDot paving project in the coming years. Kris said he feels it makes no sense not to develop a plan to do all of the round abouts. He said as a motorcyclist, this seems like a way to improve overall safety. Al agrees round-a-bouts are a challenge so asked if the focus be school related or improving all round-a-bouts. Deb thought maybe money is better spent if there was more data before making a priority list. She suggested getting input from school principals. Jim said certain areas like the round-a-bout on Witzel have more pedestrian and bike activity than Hwy 21. He suggested finding a balance between school related and round-a-bouts. Al thought maybe wait until the changes are complete with Franklin as traffic patterns most likely will be changing and it’s hard to know which are student related areas. Deb disagreed and said there is already data to show student related areas based on where students live. Lieutenant Kraemer (OPD) said one thing to keep in mind is that it may be redundant to place them near Elementary or Middle schools as there are assigned crossing guards 3 | Page prioritized at these grade levels. The high school areas do not generally have a crossing guard as at those ages they shold be old enough to cross safely. He did mention that there have been some concerns on Sawyer at Lourdes Academy as staff crossing guards are only placed at public schools, not parochial. Jim gave a little additional insight and said that the Lourdes area was evaluated by a Safe Routes to School Rep, OPD rep. and himself a few years ago. Additionally, Lourdes requested and paid for RRFBs to be added on Jocelyn Street a few years ago so they may be willing to fund some on Sawyer as well. Deb said there are 17 schools and only 15 crossing guards and there is a need for better options by West and Traeger. Jim said one thing to keep in mind is that the roundabouts off of I-41 on and by off ramps are under WisDot jurisdiction. The round-a-bouts on Oshkosh Avenue are on State Hwy. 21 so WisDot is involved with those as well. Kris said it should be common practice to always ask both State and County to fund their intersections in conjunction with improvements the City makes. The final consensus was that RRFBs should be pursued for the intersection of Elmood/Vinland and Murdock as well as the round-a-bouts. Staff Statements Jim said as far as the e-bikes topic, the City Manager has asked the State to change state stature so they can be handled as a separate mode of transportation separate from manual pedal bikes on ordinances. Council did pass banning bikes on sidewalks abutting buildings. He said Oshkosh Police is working on some educational programs to help get the information on the new ordinance out to the public. In spring, he is planning to add “walk your wheels” sidewalk stickers to increase awareness. Fond Du Lac said these have worked well for them and the stickers last about two years. Sean asked for clarification that the changes aren’t just e-bikes. Jim confirmed it is ALL bikes due to the way the State has them classified. Kris said bikes are allowed but scooters are only allowed in the road. Jim clarified that the city passed an ordinance a few years ago only allowing e-scooters in bike lanes or on roads with a speed limit of 25 mph or less. Kris said he would like to see e-scooters regulated the same as bikes (i.e. allowed on sidewalks except where buildings abut the sidewalk). Jim said he would put this topic on a future agenda. Future Agenda Requests Al Hartman asked if there were any additional future agenda requests; to which there were none. Adjournment Kris Larson made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Deb Martin. Motion carried after roll-call vote. Meeting adjourned at 4:37 pm.