Some parents, neighbors voice concerns about roads to serve South Middle School

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August 28, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Aug 28, 2009, 01:51 PM CDT

By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

Some parents and neighbors of Joplin’s new South Middle School are concerned about what they see as the potential for traffic problems along 50th Street after the school opens in January.

“Living out here for 12 years, I’ve seen many cars in the ditches on 50th Street when the roads are slick,” said Jay Marlay, 4614 S. Indiana Ave. “I don’t want to be the one who comes up on a school bus that’s in the ditch.”

Marlay and his wife, Tami, have two children who attend Joplin schools.

“We love the schools,” Tami Marlay said.

Jay Marlay said their concerns deal with the roads leading to the new school.

“You drive down 50th Street, and there’s no center line,” Jay Marlay said. “With the traffic on 50th Street, I feel like I will not be able to make a left-hand turn from Indiana because of the additional traffic coming down the hill.”

Joplin school Superintendent C.J. Huff said the district already has opened a similarly situated building, the new East Middle School, and that traffic problems have been minor. The building opened Aug. 19.

“East Middle School is on line, and it’s a two-lane road,” he said. “We’re not having any issues there, and traffic flows pretty nicely.”

Roundabout

Huff said he believes a roundabout that will serve South Middle School will help improve traffic flow on 50th Street.

“Traffic is going to change when that school opens,” he said. “When you lower speeds from 45 to 20 miles per hour, that’s a significant change in and of itself. Now throw in the roundabout, and it’s no longer a straight shot.”

But Molly Hamilton, 69 Horseshoe Drive, who lives across the street from the roundabout in front of the school, said she also is concerned about the possibility of accidents. She said she thinks the roundabout might be too narrow for buses.

“I’m not an engineer, so I can’t speak to it from that point of view, but I have taken my Suburban and gone around the circle, and it’s tight,” she said. “It’s doable, but it’s tight. I cannot imagine a bus coming around in there.”

Redings Mill fire Chief Andy Nimmo said similar concerns about large vehicles in the roundabout were raised at a meeting by village officials in Leawood. He said firefighters have taken trucks through the roundabout since it opened.

“We can get around it; it’s just going to be at a slower pace,” he said. “It slows us down, and we have picked alternate routes to avoid the school traffic once it starts.

“My concern is there’s only a single entrance in and out” of the school parking lot. “But obviously you can only do so much with the amount of money that’s been budgeted for the project. That’s a lot of traffic trying to get in and out during school times. If that entrance becomes blocked in any way, shape or form, then it becomes a real challenge to get out.”

Nimmo said he will be urging drivers to be more cautious now that the roundabout is installed. He noted that the roundabout itself is atypical, in that the center circle is slightly offset, and that drivers coming from the west to go east line up with westbound traffic instead of the median.

“My concern again is if somebody goes into that intersection too fast, they’re going to be coming into the oncoming traffic,” he said. “It’s going to be important that they drive defensively and careful to make sure the kids are safe.”

Huff said easement issues resulted in the center circle being offset to the south rather than in the middle of the road.

‘Crazy dangerous’

Hamilton said she has seen several instances of westbound drivers attempting to bypass the roundabout by going straight across through the eastbound lane, rather than following the circle.

“(Drivers) just don’t want to mess with doing it, and it’s not just at 20 miles an hour,” she said. “Sometimes it’s at a high rate of speed. I would challenge (the school district) to put a camera in out there because every day you would not believe the people who misuse the roundabout. It’s really crazy dangerous.”

The Marlays also have concerns about the condition of 50th Street. They said the road has no shoulders.

Joplin Special Road District Superintendent Cary Lee said the road district has a contract with the village of Leawood to handle snow removal and light maintenance on 50th Street. Lee said he has heard some complaints from residents about the location of the roundabout, its size and the number of hills along 50th Street.

“I agree there are some concerns that need to be settled, but I don’t know who needs to address them,” he said. “As far as traffic control, I don’t know who would be (in charge). I believe that when the state maintenance ends off Main, (the road) goes right to Leawood (jurisdiction).”

Leawood Village trustee Deny Desmond said the village board has voiced some concerns to the school district.

“Our main concern is the road itself,” he said. “There’s no place on either side for kids to walk. We’ve suggested a walking path. That’s one of our major concerns.”

Annexation issue

Desmond said the school district approached the village board about deannexing a portion of 50th Street and the school property.

“We’d schedule a public hearing, probably on the 15th of September, to coincide with our next bimonthly meeting,” he said. “We previously discussed annexation in 2007. For whatever reason, it wasn’t pursued. Now C.J. Huff has indicated he’s interested in proceeding along those lines. But we haven’t heard from the citizens yet.”

Huff said he is drafting a request that the property be annexed by Joplin for Leawood to consider. He said a potential annexation of the school property would provide continuity for the school district to deal with Joplin police for emergency services.

“Basically that would give us one point of contact with emergency services, specifically Joplin police,” he said.

Police services currently are provided by the Newton County Sheriff’s Department. The school property is in Newton County.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland echoed the safety concerns expressed by parents and Nimmo.

“It’s not an ideal situation by any means,” he said. “There’s a lot of blind areas, hillsides coming from east and west. Hopefully they will have caution lights up before school starts to warn people.”

Copeland said his department is planning to add additional enforcement in the area once the school opens in January.

“We’re going to have deputies in and around the area as soon as the school opens to try to slow everybody down until they get used to the school being there,” he said. “Our priority is the safety of the kids.”

Jurisdictions

Officials say 50th Street traverses three jurisdictions — the city of Joplin, the village of Leawood and Newton County — but it is under the supervision of the Joplin Special Road District.