Walnut Street Sign Removal

As a result of a petition and lobbying by residents regarding excessive signage on Walnut Street, the Brookline DPW Transportation Division has prepared the following findings and recommendation for action by the Transportation Board.

Agenda

TRANSPORTATION BOARD MEETING

Tuesday, September 28, 2004 @ 7:30 PM
DPW Municipal Service Center
870 Hammond Street

8:30 PM

REMOVAL OF SELECTED TRAFFIC CONTROL AND PARKING SIGNS ON WALNUT STREET BETWEEN CYPRESS STREET AND HIGH STREET: Discussion and action by the Board on a DPW recommendation to remove selected traffic control and parking signs along the section of Walnut Street between Cypress Street and High Street.

(time is approximate and discussion may begin slightly earlier or later)

DPW Findings and Recommendation

Transportation Board Meeting
September 28, 2004

Item #8 - Removal of Selected Traffic Control and Parking Signs on Walnut Street

When traffic calming devices were installed on Walnut Street several years ago, the High Street Hill Association (as well as many individual abutters) complained about the excessive number of traffic control and parking signs on Walnut Street between Cypress Street and High Street. Were all of the signs present along the street in both travel directions really necessary? As the Board knows, the situation was made even worse last year by the installation of additional signs to accommodate the temporary parking needs of the Lawrence School during its relocation to the old Lincoln School. With a renovated Lawrence School now open and the Old Lincoln School once again vacant, it is timely to not only remove all of the school-related signs but also evaluate the need for all of the other signs on this section of Walnut Street.

As correctly reported by the High Street Hill neighborhood association, there are presently a total of 115 traffic control (regulatory, warning, traffic calming) and parking-related (regulatory and school) signs located on Walnut Street between Cypress and High Street. The location and type of each sign (uniquely numbered from 1 through 115) is shown in Figures 1-5 of the attachment. This is an incredibly high number of signs for such a short segment of road.

We have examined the need for each of the signs and have found some to be no longer necessary (school signs), some to be so close to one another that they are redundant with others nearby, and some not to have been necessary in the first place. We believe that a total of 21 signs (identified by a red circle in Figure 1-5) can be removed with no impact on road user safety or parking control. They are:

Sign No.	Type	Cause for Removal
5	Change in Direction	No shift in travel lane to warrant sign
8	Two Hour Parking	Sign #2 is sufficient for block
18	No Parking This Side	Redundant with adjacent sign #17
19	Tow Away Zone	Redundant with nearby sign #16
20	No Parking Any Time	Redundant with nearby sign #17
21	Change in Direction	No shift in travel lane to warrant sign
29	School Zone Permit Parking	No longer necessary
33	School Zone Permit Parking	No longer necessary
35	School Zone Permit Parking	No longer necessary
39	School Zone Permit Parking	No longer necessary
46	Change in Direction	No shift in travel lane to warrant sign
63	Change in Direction	No shift in travel lane to warrant sign
66	Resident Permit Parking	Redundant with adjacent sign #77
79	Tow Away Zone	Redundant with nearby sign #82
80	No Parking Any Time	Redundant with nearby sign #83
87	Change in Direction	No shift in travel lane to warrant sign
96	Two Hour Parking	Signs #93 and #98 are sufficient for block
108	Tow Away Zone	Redundant with nearby sign #105
109	No Parking Any Time	Redundant with nearby sign #106
114	Tow Away Zone	Redundant with nearby sign #111
115	No Parking Any Time	Redundant with nearby sign #112

The removal of the school permit parking areas in the vicinity of the old Lincoln School will create a length of curb that will no longer be signed and may therefore create some confusion regarding allowable parking to those unfamiliar with the area. As a result, we would recommend that two (2) "Two Hour Parking" signs (identified by a blue square on Figure 3) be added and placed on the utility poles shown in the figure.

The net impact of the above changes will be to reduce the total number of signs on the street from 115 to 96 signs (remove 21 signs while adding 2 signs). In accordance with MUTCD standards, and to shield the Town from potential liability, all warning signs related to the presence of the raised crossings, all pedestrian crosswalk signs, and all object markers located on the extended curbs/bulb-outs must remain in place.

Recommendation: It is recommended that the Transportation Board grant DPW the right to remove all of the twenty-one (21) signs listed above and to install two (2) additional signs at the locations identified.

Download:
Meeting Agenda (doc)
DPW Findings and Recommendation (doc)
Attachments (Figures 1-5) (pdf)