Changes focus on traffic in Near East Side

Speeding and crashes in the Kinglincoln-bronzeville neighborhood on the Near East Side have led the city of Columbus to begin making safety improvements at intersections along Mount Vernon Avenue, one of the neighborhood’s main thoroughfares. Among the changes:

h Four-way stop signs at North Champion and Mount Vernon avenues.

h Four-way stop signs at Ohio and Mount Vernon avenues.

h New crosswalk markings near Champion Middle School, with striped parking lanes with curb extensions along Mount Vernon Avenue.

The traffic signal at Mount Vernon and North Champion was removed on Feb. 6, 2017, as new apartments were being built on the site of the old Poindexter Village public housing complex. It was replaced by stop signs.

The city is also putting in flexible poles and adding striping along Mount Vernon between North 20th Street and North Champion Avenue to narrow Mount Vernon and slow traffic.

All of the improvements are aimed at making Mount Vernon safer for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists, said Reynaldo Stargell, administrator of the city’s traffic management division.

The city is also studying whether to create a roundabout at Mount Vernon and Champion avenues that would help eliminate T-bone crashes, he said.

Since 2016, there have been 192 crashes along the Mount Vernon Avenue corridor, with 69 crashes at the North Champion Avenue intersection. The speed limit along Mount Vernon Avenue is 25 mph.

According to the most recent Midohio Regional Planning Commission traffic counts, 6,455 vehicles traveled daily along Mount Vernon near North Champion in 2015, and 4,233 vehicles traveled daily Mount Vernon near North 20th Street in 2019.

City traffic management placed a camera at the Mount Vernon/north Champion intersection in 2019, and found that two-thirds of the cars approaching Mount Vernon on North Champion were not coming to a full stop.

That’s one thing that led to the Bronzeville/mount Vernon Avenue Mobility and Safety Action Plan.

Al Edmondson’s barber shop is on North 20th Street near Mount Vernon Avenue. He said that he is encouraged by the changes along Mount Vernon, especially at Mount Vernon and Champion, where there have been many crashes in an area with a lot of children because of the school.

“People are getting hurt,” he said. Last Friday morning, drivers seemed to be paying attention to the stop signs at Mount Vernon and Champion.

Waiting for a bus nearby was Ahsaan Abdur-rahim, who said it seems traffic is slowing down now at the intersection.

“This was needed right here,” he said of the improvements.

At the northeast corner cooking ribs was William Walker, who said he has seen plenty of accidents since he set up his Walker Catering stand there five years ago.

But Walker doesn’t believe stop signs are going to do the trick. He believes the city needs to install traffic lights again.

“It’s so dangerous,” he said. “You’ve got kids walking around.” mferenchik@dispatch.com @Markferenchik

ENQUIRER CARA OWSLEY/CINCINNATI Danielle Wissel is sleeping in her living room now after bullets came through the window of her daughter’s bedroom and her home was broken into twice at the Clovernook Apartments in Mount Healthy. Wissel, 30, plans to move out of the apartments. The Clovernook Apartments now have a curfew between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for all children under the age of 17.