Circleville City Council discusses re-striping Court Street

Circleville City Council’s Service Committee meeting drew a crowd that filled the seats in the public gallery.

During Tuesday’s committee meeting, the topic of discussion was a proposed city ordinance authorizing the removal of the four-lane street markings on North and South Court Street from Pleasant Street in the north to the connector road on the south end and replacing them with street markings for two through lanes and a center turn lane.

To read letters sent to City Council about the matter, see page A6.

The Service Committee is chaired by Tom Duvall and includes members Sheri Theis and Zack Brooks. Service Director Jim Stanley was also in attendance to provide the details of the roadways. He stated that the width of Main Street and Court Street was almost equal, with less than a foot of difference.

“The traffic count on Court Street do not require four lanes,” said Director Stanley. “The traffic counts on Court Street are 8,700 ADT (Average Daily Traffic). The proposed configuration can serve up to 15,000 ADT. The current lane widths on Court Street are 10 feet, and they should be 12 feet. From our perspective, it’s about safety concerns.”

The ordinance was the result of safety concerns expressed by several downtown business people over the past couple of years. Several audience members spoke about the excessive speed on South Court Street, which includes incidents of drag racing.

Another audience member spoke about how several side mirrors on her car which was parked on the street were torn off by drivers driving too close to the parked cars. These incidents have motivated many residents on South Court Street to pull their cars over the curb onto the tree lawn when parking to prevent these accidents.

Councilman Tom Klitzka described an accident that occurred when he was opening a side door and getting into his driver’s side seat. A passing car struck the opened door. Fortunately, Klitzka was not injured, but the incident sounded frightening to everyone in the room.

Several audience members called for increased police surveillance of speeders and drag racers. However, the two lanes side-by-side provide too much temptation, and many believed that no amount of policing would stop it.

“With regard to the emergency responders, I talked with Fire Chief Brian Thompson,” said Service Committee Chair Duvall who then provided a quote from Chief Thompson saying the new configuration would not impact them.

There was extensive discussion about the potential for a traffic snarl at Cort and Main with the new configuration. A driver trying to parallel park on Court Street by City Hall could back up traffic turning left from westbound Main Street onto southbound Court Street.

Audience members also expressed concerns about traffic backups when a train is coming through. How far would traffic back up when there is only one lane?

Another audience member expressed concern over the impact of the change on the “Take Back the Street” cruise-ins. Some felt that the change would negatively affect the event because it sometimes takes up both lanes in each direction. Others felt that this was not true and that there would be no problem.

Mayor Michelle Blanton recited safety statistics from ODOT’s Traffic Monitoring Management System (TMMS) which showed that, in the past year from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024, there were 88 accidents on Court Street and only 19 on Main Street. Main Street is striped the way that the ordinance would prescribe for Court Street — one lane in each direction with a center turn lane.

Throughout the 90-minute session, the discussion was civil, yet spirited and passionate. At the end, Blanton thanked the crowd for attending and providing valuable input. She recommended that the ordinance be tabled for the next meeting of the Service Committee and not advanced to the full Council for a vote. The Service Committee members all agreed and the ordinance has been shelved pending further discussion.