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The university’s addition of pedestrian islands and safe havens for those crossing Patterson Avenue in the area of the Shriver Center have been so successful that similar ones will be installed south toward Chestnut Street as well as north toward High Street.
“The city intends to pave Patterson up to High Street in 2020 and we thought it prudent to look at improvements (to make) with that,” said Cody Powell Miami Associate Vice President of Facilities, Planning and Operations.
The Patterson Avenue plan calls for more landscaped islands in the middle of the roadway to serve as traffic-calming devices as well as pedestrian refuge halfway across the road.
“Wherever there is yellow paint in the right of way, it will be landscaped in the middle of the road,” John Seibert, Miami’s Director of Planning, Architecture and Engineering, said. “There will be no changes in left-hand turns.”
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Traffic islands will be added on High Street and decrease the number of crosswalks from five to two in the stretch between Patterson and Tallawanda avenues.
Pull-off areas for buses are also planned, according to Seibert. Those areas will allow buses to load and unload passengers without blocking traffic while stopped.
The work planned for High Street between Campus and Patterson avenues required the city to approve a resolution because Miami officials hope to secure a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation. Miami will fund the matching part of that grant, but application must be made by a municipality.
Council gave unanimous approval to a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign documents related to the grant request to ODOT for the High Street project, estimated at a total cost of $1.36 million. The local match of $212,901.80 will be covered by Miami University, although the city will pay for the work and then be reimbursed by the university.
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