Update on Morrow-Lamar Intersection Resolution

City staff presented the results of the Morrow Street traffic analysis and neighborhood viewpoints on this issue to the City Council Comprehensive Planning & Transportation Committee (CPTC), on May 3rd, 2010. (The traffic analysis evaluated the possible removal of the barrier that currently restricts traffic from moving westbound on Morrow across Lamar, and from turning left onto southbound Lamar. For more background information, see the City website.)

On May 3rd, the CPTC directed staff to convene representatives of the Crestview and Highland neighborhoods, so that each neighborhood could have an opportunity to bring forward other ideas or possible solutions that could address the underlying connectivity and safety concerns raised by each neighborhood. The goal is for the two neighborhoods to work together to find a mutually agreeable solution.

The Presidents of the Crestview and Highland neighborhood associations have been asked to identify 4 people from each neighborhood to attend a meeting on July 22nd to present and listen to ideas and decide if there are any mutually agreeable solutions to address the key connectivity and safety issues raised. Staff will provide a professional facilitator to organize and lead the discussion.

Options that were suggested during the February stakeholder meeting on this issue, and by stakeholder communication with staff in the past, generally fall into the following categories:

§ Remove the barrier on Morrow to allow both westbound through and southbound left movements

§ Modify barriers at the Morrow/Lamar intersection to allow southbound left movement onto Lamar, but continue to restrict the westbound through movement;

§ Make traffic improvements to improve safety at the Lamar/Anderson/U.S. 183 intersection

§ Don’t make any changes

If you have variations of these options, or additional options that you think should be considered that are directly related to the interests of improving connectivity and addressing safety, contact Eddie Gary, CNA President, to describe the option and its pros and cons, so that he may relay that information during the July 22nd meeting.

Eddie Gary, President
Crestview Neighborhood Association
917-7557
eddiegary@gmail.com

If there is no consensus achieved between the two neighborhoods on a mutually agreeable solution, the CPTC has asked staff to make a recommendation. That recommendation will be based on transportation engineering data as well as neighborhood comments. The results of the July 22nd neighborhood meeting and the staff recommendation on this issue will be presented to the City Council Comprehensive Planning & Transportation Committee at a future date. Molly Scarbrough, City of Austin Principal Planner, will notify the neighborhood association when the date of the staff presentation to the CPTC has been determined.