Tecumseh City Council approves new signs to improve traffic flow near schools

Mary Lowe, The Daily Telegram
·2 min read

TECUMSEH — The Tecumseh City Council approved two traffic orders to reduce the chance of a car-on-car or car-on-pedestrian collision as well as improve traffic flow near local schools last week.

New "No Turn on Red" signs on Evans Street at the Chicago Boulevard intersection will be installed for both the northbound and southbound lanes of Evans Street.

While there is not an abundance of actual crashes at the intersection, the police department reported it has received complaints and witnessed several near misses.

Chief Brett Coker said the signs will improve safety and with the road diet of Chicago Boulevard underway it is a a good time to make these changes.

"No Turn on Red" signs will be ordered and installed by the city's department of public works as follows:

  • For southbound North Evans Street traffic at Chicago Boulevard to prevent turning westbound on a red traffic light.

  • For northbound South Evans Street traffic at Chicago Boulevard to prevent turning eastbound on a red traffic light.

Due to increased traffic in the immediate area surrounding Herrick Park Intermediate Learning Center (600 Herrick Park Drive) causing congestion, Tecumseh Public Schools and First Student requested a designated traffic pattern be implemented.

School resource officer Sgt. Chad Rodgers manually directed traffic in the final weeks of the 2021-22 school year into a pattern the police department reported would better suit the amount of traffic in the area during the short periods of time for student dropoff and pickup. This pattern did alleviate the congestion issue, Coker said

The council-approved signs to make this pattern permanent is:

  • "No Right Turn" sign installed on Herrick Park Drive at Outer Drive. This sign will say, "School Traffic Only. No Right Turn. 8 to 9 a.m. Monday-Friday."

  • "No Parking Here to Corner" sign to be installed on Herrick Park Drive, 30 feet west of Outer Drive. The prohibition of parking near that corner will improve safety for pedestrians utilizing the crosswalk on Outer Drive at Herrick Park Drive, Coker said.

  • "Right Turn Only" sign will be installed at the school's exit on Outer Drive. This sign will say, "School Traffic. Right Turn Only. 3 to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh City Council approves new traffic signs near schools