Making Nyes Place safer

Andrew Edwards

The City Council asked city officials on Tuesday to work with

residents around Nyes Place to draft a plan to enhance safety in that

neighborhood.

In November, two trucks crashed after their brakes failed while

driving down Nyes Place. In the first of the two accidents, four

homes were damaged.

“I don’t think on this situation we’re ever going to have a

perfect situation, so we need to have a consensus here,” Mayor Cheryl

Kinsman said.

The council approved a motion to wait until April 20 to hear new

ideas after several residents expressed dissatisfaction with a

proposal presented by Public Works director Steve May.

City staffers were directed to meet with consultants and Nyes

Place residents to come up with a new set of proposals.

Public Works staffers working with Scott Bacsikin, a traffic

consultant with Willdan, an engineering consultancy, initially

crafted a four-part recommendation to improve safety at Nyes Place.

The proposals were made in response to neighborhood concerns that

drivers travel too fast when turning onto the street from South Coast

Highway and that the street’s steep grade can be hazardous when

vehicles travel down the street.

The recommendations were to create a three-way stop at the

intersection of Nyes Place and Highland Way; build a sidewalk along

the 300 block of Nyes Place; create a safe area for runaway vehicles;

and to paint stripes along the side of the road to make the street

appear more narrow to encourage motorists to drive slower.

Residents speaking before the council offered various ideas of

they’re own to make Nyes Place safer. Charles Michael Murray gave

council members several suggestions.

One of Murray’s ideas was that instead of adding a new stop sign,

it would be better to do something along the lines of building a

neighborhood monument or installing cobblestones to make drivers

realize they are entering a residential area as they enter from South

Coast Highway.

“We need to change their mind-set immediately that they’re into a

small community,” he said.

Bacsikin and Willdan did not recommend that the city build a

so-called “truck escape ramp” near the bottom of lower Nyes Place

since there is not enough room to build a big enough ramp to meet

accepted standards.

May said the city could build a safe zone for drivers to crash out

of control trucks into plants and avoid homes, but City Atty. Philip

Kohn told council members he was concerned the plan would increase

the city’s liability, which made council members leery of the idea.

“The ramp, even though someone might want to label it something

different, when we put our stamp of approval on it and say, ‘This is

here,’ and we all know, even though we can’t say it, what it’s meant

to be, that’s not something we should be doing,” councilman Wayne

Baglin said.

However, this was one of the more popular ideas among residents.

“The truck turnout is fully supported and needed,” Monica Simpson

said. “And I think you better consider the liability if it’s not put

in and our homes get hit again.”

The council approved the striping idea, but in the motion, city

staffers were directed to talk to residents before deciding which

stretch of the road should be painted.

The street can be dangerous for a truck driver who rides the

truck’s brake down the street in a high gear before they come to its

steepest stretch, May said.

The steepest section of the street is the 400 block above Ashton

Drive. The grade levels off a bit after a hairpin turn, but remains

steep as it snakes its way toward Balboa Avenue near Moulton Meadows

Park.

“If they haven’t been properly using their lowest gear, they’re

out of brake power,” May said.