Text and Photo by Nico Colombant for The Vienna Connection, Dec 2-9, 1998
Eighteen months ago, the town's transportation safety commission, an advisory board of nine residents serving two-year terms, was asked by town council to devise a plan for "traffic-calming" measures. On Nov. 2, a public hearing was held in Vienna's town hall to consider the body's recommendations.
"This is pure democracy in action," says Bob Bingham, the commission's chairman. The recommendations are designed to reduce cut-through traffic on residential streets in and out of Vienna's clogged Maple Avenue. These include the establishment of one-way traffic patterns during rush hour, the installation of speed humps in residential areas, and the creation of four-way stop sign intersections.
During a five hour-session this week, concerned parents, pastors, business leaders, children, commuters, all of them residents who signed up to speak at the public hearing, were given five minutes each to voice their opinion for or against any of the 22 recommendations.
Paul Arends of the 300 block on Westview Court came to protest any further restrictions on the town's traffic pattern. "These recommendations would turn the city into a rat's maze," he said. "We have to consider other alternatives because if we don't I won't be able to get to the grocery store anymore."
Mary Ellen Larkins said she had come to educate the public. Larkins lives on the 300 block of Church Street, a residential area where she says there are eight-thousand to nine-thousand cars a day. "High-volume, high-speed traffic is an actual danger," she said. "Traffic-calming measures are a means of providing safer streets for residents and motorists, and a better quality of life for everyone."
The term "quality of life" was in dispute, whether it meant safety for residents or the ability for commuters, patrons and emergency vehicles to get from point A to point B. Petitions pro and con were brought forward. A majority of speakers said more visible law enforcement was needed and that more speeders should be caught. Mayor Charles Robinson, who moderated the hearing, said 60 to 70 per cent more traffic violations had been handed out in the past year.
Robinson tried to drum up support for more speed bumps.
Brian Ebert, vice-president of government affairs to the Vienna regional chamber of commerce, implored the council to consider the bigger picture. "The free-flow of traffic is the lifeblood of Vienna business," he said. "Safety is vitally important but we must understand that with more restrictions, businesses will suffer."
Many residents further from Maple Avenue than Church Street or Ayrhill Avenue, where many "DO NOT ENTER" signs are being proposed, fear cut-through traffic will only be pushed to the streets where they live. Steve Katona, a volunteer with the Fire Department, warned of the "my street mentality". "The spirit has to be our town, not my street. We're all residents of the entire town," he said.
Council member Albert Boudreau said town council had postponed any decision because of the late hour the hearing ended - nearly 1 a.m.- and that more time is needed to consider everything that was said.
Traffic and more specifically how to deal with it is a tough balancing act in Vienna, where "free-flow" advocates oppose those in favor of safety first, where evil lies in "road rage" or "speeders", and where some are labeled "pro-motorists" while others call themselves "anti speed bump activists."
