Fruitland council races past speed limit issue
Elected leaders opt to hold off sending letter of protest to state agency
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:59 PM PST
FRUITLAND - In a 3-1 vote Monday night the Fruitland City Council decided to hold off sending a letter to the Idaho Transportation Department voicing disagreement with maintaining the 45 mph speed limit through city limits along U.S. Highway 95, despite the urgings of one of the council members. Fruitland City Councilman Keith Schuller, who is also Payette County coroner, broached the subject, initially, at the Jan. 14 City Council session, of changing the speed limit from 45 to 35 throughout Fruitland along U.S. Highway 95.
He asked Cpl. Ed Robertson, an Idaho State Police crash reconstructionist, to give a demonstration on the impacts of speed on car crashes. At the time, the City Council decided to bring the matter up again for further review at Monday night’s meeting.
After receiving more information, the council realized it had limited jurisdiction regarding a speed limit change on state highways throughout city limits, and ultimately the final decision would have to be made by ITD. ITD officials have already determined the 45 mph speed limit is sufficient and a change not necessary.
Schuller, however, told his fellow council members, despite ITD’s decision to maintain the 45 mph speed limit throughout the sections of Fruitland on U.S. Highway 95, he still thought it was the council’s responsibility to send a letter to ITD voicing council member’s disagreement and making a recommendation to change the speed limit to a constant 35 mph throughout city limits.
Schuller said he knew the letter would not change anything, but he felt the City Council needed to take that action so that something had been done by city officials prior to a fatal car crash on U.S. Highway 95 occurring in city limits.
“If I do all these things, and somebody dies, I’ll feel like I’ve done all I could,” Schuller said.
He said, despite the memo issued by city engineers, Doherty and Associates, which reiterated the findings of ITD’s study that the 45 mph speed limit was acceptable, at some point a fatal car crash will occur along that strip, and he didn't want the city to have to tell the loved ones of the victims in such an event the city had not done all it could to have prevented the accident. He said he strongly disagreed with ITD’s findings that the speed limit was sufficient along sections of U.S. Highway 95 through the city.
“They live on rubber hoses and nothing else,” Schuller said, referring to the traffic counters situated in rubber casings laid out by ITD to determine the number of cars traveling over certain sections of road. Karen Doherty, Doherty and Associates, the city’s transportation engineering firm, reported to the council she understood why Schuller was making his recommendation and sympathized, agreeing ITD relied too much on its “rubber hoses.”
However, she recommended the city might gain more ground if it waited to make its recommendation when a U.S. Highway 95 access management plan evolves in the spring.
Fruitland has already agreed to take part in the access management plan process.
She said, while ITD has determined the speed limit is sufficient at the moment, during the access management study, city officials can mention the speed issue again in conjunction with the numerous additional access points to U.S. Highway 95 the city will gain from future, planned construction.
Despite Schuller’s pleas, the other Fruitland City Council members decided the city might make a better argument at a later time, especially considering a letter to ITD would do no good right now.
In other Fruitland City Council news, Doherty told the elected board, after further review, engineers concluded the intersection of Allen Avenue and 16th Street was still the best location for a future traffic light.
She said ITD officials also agreed that intersection was the best spot for a future traffic light.
Doherty told the City Council the next step in pursuing the matter would be to send a request to ITD for its agreement in situating a traffic light at that intersection.
She told the council members, ITD has already indicated the city would be responsible for the entire cost.
She also told the council she would have somebody well-versed in different payment options attend the next City Council meeting to explain the council's options, which included local improvement districts or latecomer’s agreements.
“You have a lot of complexities in this specific area,” Doherty said.
