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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTraffic Safety Commission - Minutes - 8/18/2016MINUTES OF THE BAYFIELD COUNTY TRAFFICE SAFETY COMMITTEE THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016 The regular meeting of the Bayfield County Traffic Safety Committee was called to order by Chairman Paul Susienka at 9:00 am on Thursday, August 18, 2016 at the Bayfield County Highway Office in Washburn, WI. Attendees: Tomas R. Toepfer-Bayfield County Highway Dept., Paul Susienka, Bayfield County Sheriff, Jan Victorson-Emergency Management, Brett Heino- WI State Patrol, Randy Wiessinger-BOTS Liaison, Rick Olig-BOTS Liaison, Matthew Reddy-WI DOT, Deb Milanowski-Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office. Approval of Minutes: Motion by Tom Toepfer, 2nd by Brett Heino to approve the minutes from May 19, 2016. Motion carried. Report of Highway Commissioner: Received a request for a reduction of the speed limit on Co. Hwy H from Iron River to Twin Bear Lake to 45 mph from local citizens. This encompasses a 4 mile stretch of road. The Town of Iron River and Toepfer both agree in denying the request as the purpose of county roads are to move traffic along. Toepfer will call and respond to this request. Toepfer reported on upcoming highway projects. Monday, August 22, 2016 they will start on Co. Hwy M in Cable/Namakagon from Co. Hwy D to Dells Road. There will be a press release in the paper as of August 19th and the completion date is set for Oct. 1, 2016. This roadway will be open during construction, but reduced to 1 lane with a flagger. Jan mentioned this could impact Great Divide and Toepfer indicated that the road crews shut down and clear a path when possible if they hear sirens coming. Storm Damage/Repairs: 1.Co. Hwy E- the pipes and structure washed out. They have put in temporary pipes. There will eventually be a bridge put her with funding from the 2017 budget. The County will be purchasing the property next door. The cost for this project will be around $300,000. 2.Co. Hwy M- Toepfer reported this has been repaired. 3.Co Hwy D-Toepfer reported the pipes went out here and the road is open. Hwy E is still not opened. Report from Jan Victorson: Town of Lincoln closed every road in their town at one point due to the storm. They have never seen this much damage from a rain storm and they are still recovering. There was a response from the Forest Service which assisted in repairs. FEMA was here on Tuesday. Jan also recommended a plan for sign education in the future. Placement of detour signs and definition of signs (for instance Road Closed) as there were numerous Road Closed signs moved to allow traffic to get through. Need to define a chain of command in these situations so that there is one authority that moves or changes or adds signs, or road closures, etc. The idea is to designate a spokesperson for detours in the County and they would coordinate with town and state roads. Report from Paul Susienka: Reviewed the 2nd quarter crash map. There is a state trend in accidents increasing, but what are the causes? It appears that inattentive driving is increasing statewide. Most of the County’s crashes occur on well-traveled roads (Highway 13, Hwy 2 and Hwy 63). Discussed moving this committee to the EOC located in the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office. The committee agreed to this move. Report from Randy Wiessinger: Reviewed the Anatomy of Traffic Safety for Bayfield County report provided by the State. They also provided the packet to all committee members. Report from Brett Heino: The State Patrol will be working on filling his position after his retirement date of Sept. 30th. There are 4 interested candidates. Report from Matt Reddy: The state is trying to move the construction in the Bibon Swap that was scheduled for 2019 to this fall and have it included into the Emergency Flood repair grant. Meeting ended at 10:29am Respectfully submitted by Deb Milanowski Next meeting is scheduled for 11/17/16 at 9:00am at the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office in the EOC.