Fast drivers, scared kids - City may convert 4th, Summit to two-way to improve trek to schoolColumbus Dispatch, The (OH) - October 4, 2007Author: Tim Doulin; THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Jessica Morrow plans to walk her daughter to and from Weinland Park Elementary for as long as she attends the school.

The reason is the school, at 211 E. 7th Ave., is sandwiched between 4th and Summit streets. Both are one-way streets with a posted speed limit of 35 mph outside the school zone, which residents said drivers seldom come even close to obeying.

"She is real responsible," Morrow said of her daughter, Alexis Moore, a first-grader. "But I have more concerns about the traffic and her crossing the street safely.

"Sometimes, people just fly by you like they don't see you."

Morrow, who lives east of 4th on N. 6th Street, is among those in the neighborhood who would like to see Summit and 4th returned to two-way streets in hopes of slowing traffic.

Based on comments from city officials yesterday, Morrow eventually will get her wish.

The debate about converting Summit and 4th -- vital arteries into and out of Downtown -- to two-way streets is not a new one; Columbus officials have studied it over the years.

But yesterday was International Walk to School Day at Weinland Park, where City Councilwoman Maryellen O'Shaughnessy told a roomful of students, parents and teachers: "For years, I have advocated the conversion of Summit and 4th to two ways.

"It is a long and involved process. We hope to begin a plan to start that sometime soon," said O'Shaughnessy, who is chairwoman of the council's Public Service and Transportation Committee.

Mark Kelsey, Columbus' public service director, said the city will study the neighborhood with the goal of developing a traffic plan for the area.

"Councilwoman O'Shaughnessy is absolutely correct. It is our desire to convert Summit and 4th into two-way traffic," Kelsey told the same audience. "When (do) we get there? I do not know. But this is what we want to do."

The city plans to begin a search for a consultant in December to study the area and then complete a Weinland Park Community Mobility Plan within a year, the city said.

"We view that as one alternative to improving pedestrian safety and neighborhood mobility, as does the neighborhood," said Mary Carran Webster, assistant public service director. "Who knows what the study will show us?"

Summit and 4th were converted to one-way in the 1950s. In 1997, the City Council adopted a study that said it was unrealistic to change the streets to two-way until changes occurred to traffic volume and traffic patterns.

In 2004, consultants told the city that converting Summit and 4th streets to two-way would lessen rush-hour traffic in the neighborhoods, but would eliminate on-street parking south of Chittenden Avenue and increase traffic congestion.

"Perhaps we are at the foreseeable future," Webster said. "We are moving ahead from the Downtown circulation study, making streets that were one way, two-way," such as Gay Street and State Street.

Weinland Park Principal Monica Gant said traffic is a serious problem.

"It is a difficult area to walk in because of the traffic," said Gant, who is in her first year as principal. "It is nice to have people come out and see what the children see and see it through their eyes."

Earlier this year, a teacher who was serving as a crossing guard was struck by a car on Summit as she allowed children to cross the street at 7th Avenue. She was not seriously injured.

Catherine Girves, director of the University Area Enrichment Association, said children and adults also must cross 4th and Summit to get to the grocery and other destinations.

"We appreciate anything you can do to get control of the speed on 4th and Summit," she told O'Shaughnessy and Kelsey.

tdoulin@dispatch.com

Caption: Photo, MapTOM DODGE / DISPATCH Ten-year-old Jeffery Jones heads down the alley between Summit and Hamlet streets with Columbus Health Commissioner Dr. Teresa C. Long. Jeffery, a fourth-grader at Weinland Park Elementary School, told Long that he feels safer in the alley. Yesterday was International Walk to School Day.Edition: Home Final Section: News Page number: 01B Record: 0710040024 Copyright: THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 2007 The Dispatch Printing Co.