Did they read my thoughts???

Critics say it’s just a matter of time until a child gets hit on narrow EGF street

Tu-Uyen Tran Grand Forks HeraldPublished Wednesday, August 20, 2008


It’s just a matter of time before a child gets hit on 10th Street Southeast in East Grand Forks, residents and city leaders say.

The narrow residential street has no sidewalks, but it has grown into a major thoroughfare as commuters on the northeast side of Bygland Road use it to get to Bygland.

In the evenings, homeowner Joanne Otto said she’d see families ride their bikes down 10th. She’d also see drivers roar around the corner at James Avenue Southeast.

“It’s been very close many times,” she said.

Mayor Lynn Stauss lives on 10th, and he could attest to the dangers there. “It’s our responsibility to act on this quickly before something happens.”

City Council members Marc DeMers and Greg Leigh watched the street one evening and they agree the city needs to do something.

The immediate action, they say, is to figure out a way to slow drivers down, including using speed traps.

DeMers proposed at a council meeting Tuesday to form a task force that included residents.
The next step is to expand the street from its present width of 24 feet to as wide as 41 feet with sidewalks.

Council members agreed Tuesday to use state aid to do that on James Avenue, 10th Street, 19th Avenue Southeast, 13th Street Southeast, Greenway Boulevard and Rhinehart Drive, all considered major corridors in The Point area.

They’ll discuss the matter in more depth at their meeting at 5 p.m. Aug. 26.
Otto said she’s not too keen on the expansion of 10th though, because it would only bring more traffic. She’d prefer the city turn 10th into a one-way street.

City engineer Greg Boppre said times have changed and drivers are used to using 10th. He said he thinks once they discover the newly opened 13th Street Southeast connection on the northeast side of Bygland, the number of drivers on 10th will drop.