TOLEDO, Ohio — WTOL 11 last week reported on how some Toledo residents aren't fans of changes the city is making to their streets to help slow traffic.
Chicanes were removed and sidewalks are planned for Whitechapel Drive in south Toledo and a street narrowing project is underway on Middlesex Drive in west Toledo.
WTOL 11 sat down with Deputy Mayor Abby Arnold, who is working on the overall Vision Zero project that aims to make streets safer and reduce roadway fatalities.
"Those are the places that we put up temporary design changes to see if it had in order to see it had the effect of slowing traffic," Arnold said of the Whitechapel and Middlesex projects.
She said both projects were successful and planned on making them permanent until Whitechapel residents gave their feedback. So, the city decided to remove the chicanes and just install the sidewalks.
But on Middlesex Drive, the city plans to narrow the street despite resident complaints.
"I think the reason the chicanes rose to a different level, is because it's a very new-to-Toledo way to calm traffic," Arnold said. "We've been narrowing roads for this reason for a long time."
She said Vision Zero is larger than just these two streets, though, and the city plans to test new methods of slowing down traffic in other areas by being more creative than just installing speed bumps.
"I think as we roll out this new process, and we're able to show that there are some different elements that I think can both slow traffic and make a neighborhood more aesthetically pleasing than maybe a speed bump can, I think people will start to embrace these new ideas," Arnold said.
A few Toleodans that WTOL 11 spoke with said they felt out of the loop when it came to the projects.
Arnold said throughout the Vision Zero process, the city is learning how to better communicate with neighborhoods on projects from the beginning.
Next, the city plans to test out adding bike lanes to parts of Erie and Michigan streets in downtown Toledo, Arnold said.