By CARL EXNER
Former Sandy city councilor
Have you noticed that the traffic in Sandy seems really congested lately? Especially on the weekends. The ODOT counters tell us that depending on the time of week the counts range between 40,000 and 50,000 cars a day traveling through our sweet city. Now if you try to drive from north or south across this river of cars and trucks, you may have to wait a bit to find a gap. When you use the signal lights crossing, I’m sure you notice that your wait to cross during the weekends is even longer than the weekdays. ODOT has programmed our lights to create longer highway traffic times, this creates longer wait times for our down town local traffic. I have seen many of us take chances pulling into the traffic when frustrated by the wait.
Crossing ìriver of carsî
My offices are on Proctor Blvd., and I see these traffic frustrations, it’s not pretty. What I do see is pedestrian traffic trying to cross that river of cars. It’s a heart-stopping thing to watch. Pedestrians, sometimes moms, with their child in a stroller, looking for gaps in the traffic to cross. When I hear brake screeching, I hate to look to see why. Nothing is more scarier than to have a truck do the right thing and stop for a pedestrian, the walker then takes their life in hand, walk to the center of the road to see if the other lane will stop or roar by.
ADA Sidewalk work creates issues
Lately, to add to all this we have ODOT ADA sidewalk work that shoves traffic around and creates a lot of distractions, making pedestrian traffic go through these walk-arounds and narrows the driving conditions. I hope our kids understand the dangers with these fixes. All this results in a convoluted mix that reduces our safety. I have noticed that our children are willing to try crossing in less than safe times.
Lights for crossers?
Okay, now for the solutions. Why do we not have access to pedestrian flashing lights that warn car traffic that the walkers need to cross? Several of the cities along our ocean highway have them and they seem to work. Why not Sandy? We have four lights on Proctor and Pioneer. There really needs to be more light-controlled intersections to handle our pedestrian traffic. Also, to reduce the frustration of wait times, why not synchronize the traffic signals?
Council needs to pressure ODOT
I believe that our City Council needs to apply some pressure on ODOT, who is responsible for the roads, lights, speed, and management. There will only be more traffic in the future, resulting in more conflicts in the future. Let’s keep our downtown safe! ◼︎
Carl Exner is a real estate agent and was a respected member of the Sandy City Council for fourteen years. He also served on the City of Sandy planning commission for five years prior to that. He is currently a member of the budget committee.