Parkview and St. Moritz Stasse intersection

The following was sent to county engineering.

Leslie:

I spoke with John earlier today regarding the road modifications recently made in Summit Park at the juncture of Parkview and St. Moritz Strasse and now want to create a record of that discussion voicing my safety concerns.

As a 24 year Summit Park resident I am intimately familiar with this intersection and looked forward to the pending reconstruction. It deserves high esthetic marks but the safety implications, unless you live below the new guard rail, are dire and there will be consequences especially with impending snow.

There’s no easy resolution to the situation but by removing the stop sign from north bound Parkview traffic you have created greater potential for collisions with east bound Parkview traffic turning left (north) on to St. Moritz Strasse as well as through traffic heading south on Parkview. John implied that the through traffic from north bound Parkview has the right of way over traffic turning left onto St. Moritz Strasse, but I submit that the through traffic coming down (north) Parkview also turns left and leaves some ambiguity as to really who has the right of way. That technicality aside, the simplest remedy would be to replace the stop sign as the least onerous of imperfect solutions. To not do so would be big mistake. By the way, observations by residents indicate that removal of that stop sign has created very high speeds from north bound Parkview traffic and based on my comments about the complications of this intersection, that’s where the carnage will originate.

Further complicating the situation is the ‘first time’ stop sign for south bound traffic coming up St. Moritz Strasse. Not nearly the issue above but I guarantee that the sign will be ignored with snow covered roads. Even all wheel drive vehicles have difficulty making the right hand turn west on to Parkview. John indicated that he made that turn this morning without difficulty with some snow on the road. You ain’t seen nothing yet, John. I’ll call when the goin gets tough and you can give it a try then. If cars have to stop, there will be days when moving forward to complete that turn will be impossible and create a traffic back ups. The stop sign will only compound the problem. Just so you know.

Many of us have wondered why, with all effort and cost that went into the recent improvements was the road not widened and straightened in the guard rail vicinity of St. Moritz Strasse? My guess is that right of way and property rights issues prevented a better solution.

In retrospect, a little community involvement in the project might have been helpful. As a former bureaucrat I know it can be messy but found it worth the time to listen to my constituents. You listening now?

Doug and Lone Vilnius

115 St. Moritz Way

Summit Park

645 9324