City Beach neighbors concerned with increasing traffic

Residents in the City Beach neighborhood have growing concern over what they say is increased traffic and speeding making for an unsafe situation in the residential area.

Few drivers adhere to the 25 mph speed limit, new housing projects in the neighborhood are adding to the volume of cars, and the nearby City Beach and Soroptimist Park means many children traverse through the neighborhood walking and on bikes — all issues they say mean it’s just a matter of time before an accident happens.

Neil Stuber, on behalf of about 200 residents who signed a petition regarding their concerns, last week asked Whitefish City Council to address the issue.

“Traffic and safety has always been a common discussion in the neighbourhood,” he said. “We do see a lot of kids riding bikes in the neighbourhood, and coming from City Beach and Soroptimist Park, and we see an influx of that in the summer.”

City Council directed city staff to look into the issue for possible solutions.

Councilor Frank Sweeney recognized that finding a solution to the issue wouldn’t necessarily be easy, but some options such as installing speed bumps in the summer should be explored.

“We need to find a solution set that we can live with,” he said. “We need to look again at some of these things we have dismissed. I hate to walk away and say we can’t do anything for them.”

Mayor John Muhlfeldsaid he appreciates the concerns of the neighbors having lived in that neighborhood for about 10 years himself.

“We’ve been observing an increase in traffic, and the number of children in the neighborhood,” he said. “I’d be interested in looking at some four-way stops in that area.”

Several of the neighbors in particular point out that Dakota Avenue has become a bypass for those looking to avoid traffic on Wisconsin Avenue.

Cheri Aronsson, in the petition submitted to Council, said four way stops and speed bumps seem like good solutions.

“Living on Idaho Avenue with kids running all over our neighborhood, especially in the summer months, we are very concerned about the speed on our street and it will only increase exponentially with all the new housing being built in our neighborhood,” she said.

Some asked for more law enforcement presence saying that not only is speeding an issue but drivers don’t always stop for stop signs.

“I live one house away from the corner of Dakota and Skyles,” said Lynnett Gobel. “I see multiple cars run that stop sign every day. I dread the day that someone gets hit by a car.”

Seeking a solution might not be easy, city staff noted.

Public Works Director Craig Workman said both speed bumps and stop signs might not provide the results neighbors are looking for.

“Speed bumps are an issue we wrangle with and we occasionally put them in on a temporary basis,” he said. “Studies have shown that speed bumps exacerbate the problem because drivers speed up after going over the speed bump, and it winds up creating more of an issue. Stop signs tend to have a similar effect. We do consider four-way stops at intersections with other issues, and we can evaluate that again.”

Workman said law enforcement has increased its presence in the neighborhood and moved speed radar signs around the neighborhood already.

“At this point we’ve done a lot of study,” he added. “We need to look at that data and go back to the drawing board on this. It’s pretty clear there’s a growing concern about traffic in the area and we need to consider some changes.”