The proposal by highway officials to seal off Buena Vista Street ramps to and from the expressway has received little ink, though such an event will affect drive times, fuel consumption and response time of emergency services to thousands of citizens.
Closing the ramps will each day require thousands drivers to use Cedar Street ramps or take an alternate route.
Driving distance from Buena Vista will be increased by about a mile each way, and drive time by more than two minutes, as timed and measured by me this morning about 7 a.m. More traffic will use the residential streets of Cedarcrest and Clarendon to get from Buena Vista to Cedar Street and back.
After three traffic lights are installed at the Cedar Street ramp area, and thousands more cars and trucks are congregating there, the increased time is anyone’s guess. If a train is crossing Cedar Street and you live north of this area, you better hope you’re not waiting for an emergency squad to show up.
Not only will this affect the speed of fire and emergency services, it will affect hundreds of semi-trucks bound for Fiberglas, trucks to be routed thorough the residences bordering Everett Street. It will affect the speed, fuel and convenience of Sheriff’s deputies, based at Buena Vista & East Main.
And why are we doing this? The Licking County Area Transportation Study says there are too many accidents occurring at the Buena Vista ramps. Rather than fix the ramps the solution is simply to close them.
Brian Moorehead, Newark City Engineer, is listed as a contact for information regarding this project, and I asked several questions by e-mail. His responses, along with responses to questions regarding safety by Matthew Hill from LCATS, are reproduced on a Newark Tea Party page at http://www.newarkteaparty.com/h/buenavistaramps.html
To me there are a lot of unresolved problems and incomplete answers which I mention as supplements to the official responses.
Written comments regarding this project are due by May 19th, after which ODOT, LCATS, and the City of Newark will make a final decision.
Information, comment forms, and engineering drawings are on the web at
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