Sept. 4, 1998
Letters to the Editor
The News-Times
P.O. Box 965
Newport, Oregon 97365
The Eads Street Traffic Safety Project petition has already been welcomed by nearly 100 signers. Eads neighborhood residents and parents of students attending Sam Case and Newport Middle School have been eager to sign the petition for a stop sign on Eads at either Seventh or Eighth Street. The petition also calls on the City of Newport to improve Coos-Benton Street to handle some of the through traffic. Since Eads currently handles school traffic for over 1100 students at the three schools, the faster bypass traffic presents significant safety concerns for students who walk to and from school.
On 8/19/98 The News-Times reported that the Newport City Council has decided to place stop signs at two locations on Eads. In addition, several months ago the city rerouted most of the bypass traffic away from the high school by opening Harney Street between Hwy 20 and Seventh Street. These measures will likely provide a significant margin of safety for the older students.
Unfortunately, since the locations designated for stop signs are directly in front of the high school, they do not provide a suitable crossing place for Newport Middle School students who walk from the northwest . They must cross Eads three or four blocks further north. Likewise, the rerouting to Harney-Seventh has permitted the bypass use of Eads Street north of the high school to continue unrestrained. From the the N-T report it appears the city council is very reluctant to inconvenience drivers who chose to use Eads as a shortcut - even if it means placing pedestrians and younger students at considerable risk. A similar attitude may be reflected by the Newport Police Dept.'s lack of enforcement of the 25 MPH speed limit on Eads.
Several statements made by city officials, as reported by the N-T, are inaccurate. For example, the "traffic study" conducted by the city last spring, which was cited by Councilman Dave Miller as showing there is no speed problem on Eads, consisted of four 20-minute timings with a hand-held radar gun. The timings were made during the periods of peak traffic congestion, 8:00 - 8:40 AM and 3:00-3:40 PM, when students are being dropped off or picked up at the three schools along Eads. During these timings the volume of traffic was 480 cars per hour; that's a car every eight seconds - and even then the average speed was 24.8 MPH. Under these crowded conditions it is impossible for vehicles to speed and it's nearly impossible for walking students to cross Eads.
During other times of the day, much of the traffic on Eads is bypass traffic - which has no destination along the neighborhood route. This through traffic includes commercial vehicles taking a short cut and later on, drivers on their way home from work. Their reason for using Eads as a bypass is that, despite travelling through the residential and school area, they can make better time than on Highways 20 and 101. Speeds during the day and in the evening are much faster than the city's traffic study indicated, more in the range of 35 to 45 MPH. The through traffic presents a significant threat to Newport Middle School students who may be heading home late, following sports or other after-school activities. In the winter this will mean crossing Eads in the dark.
For more information and/or updates on the Eads Street Traffic Safety Project, call (541) 574-1981. Eads traffic and other topics about Newport and Lincoln County are discussed online at the award-winning Don Quixote Society Website. The URL address for the website cannot be included in this letter, but it may be found in section 79 of the News-Times classified ads.
Carl Reynolds
cc: Newport Local School Committee, Supt, Stoops, Supt. Tieken, Newport City Council