by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Wrecks at Downtown intersections aren’t every day occurrences, but they happen more often than most think. Many occur at night with the evidence in the street or on the sidewalks in the morning.
Those wrecks can be expensive, too, as was the case with an accident that occurred at the corner of Main and Forsyth early Wednesday morning.
According to the police report, a vehicle headed eastbound on Forsyth at 12:43 a.m. ran the red light and hit a car headed south on Main Street. The impact carried the vehicles across the intersection where the eastbound car then leveled the housing for the traffic signal controls before smashing into the parking garage. Keith French of the City’s traffic engineering division said this is the fifth time in three years this has happened while a five-year resident of 11E. said it’s been many more times than that since he moved into the tower.
Through mayoral spokesperson Misty Skipper, head of traffic engineering Richard Ball refuted that allegation. Ball said he has “no recollection of having to replace the cabinet.”
Replacing the box and repairing the wiring is an expensive venture as much as it is an inconvenience. Mark Edge and French spent most of the day working on the repairs while two Community Service Officers controlled traffic manually. According to French, the cabinet that houses the traffic control devices costs $12,000, the controller itself is $800 and the monitor is $400.
“Twelve splices have to be done,” said French, adding a fan-out kit has to be installed. He also said it costs $2,500 to repair the fiber optic cable and even more if the cable is damaged to the point it has to be replaced.
Marcy Cook, communications manager for the City’s Public Works Department, said the City tries to recover those expenses through the drivers’ insurance carriers. However, that’s not always possible.
“I’m not sure of our track record,” said Cook of the City’s ability to recoup some of those costs. “Half the people aren’t insured and there’s nothing to recover. We do pursue it when we know who did it and there’s a police report.”
Skipper echoed that statement.
“In a situation like this, we absolutely go after the driver seeking restitution,” said Skipper. “It’s standard operating procedure. More time than not, we recover the money.”
Cook also said the City recently contracted a traffic consultant to look at the Downtown traffic flow and patterns. While some sections of some one-way streets — Bay, Independent Drive and Laura — will likely be converted from one-way to two-way traffic, Cook said there’s been very little talk of converting all the other two-way streets, if any at all.
“There are some businesses that are diabolically opposed to it and there are some who want to see it,” she said. “Some businesses, through their lobbying efforts, would just as soon like for the streets to stay one-way.”
Accidents and the types of accidents are a component of the study, said Cook. Both French and Edge have suggested the construction of barriers to protect the traffic control boxes. However, they have been told — for liability reasons — it’s not feasible to build a concrete barrier.
“There comes a point when there’s not a lot that can stop a moving car, plus they would have to be designed to break away.”
According to an employee with Eola Capital — which manages the parking garage — an internal pipe was broken as a result of the collision and a crack was created that goes from the base of the garage to the top.