The Maplewood Department of Public Works is considering on-street parking on the north side of Marietta Avenue to discourage cut-through traffic.
Marietta Avenue residents recently received a notice from Maplewood Director of Public Works Anthony Traxler informing them that city officials will discuss the issue at the council meeting on June 12.
The letter says the city has received numerous complaints about the volume and speed of traffic on the 7300 block of Marietta. A study showed that car speeds aren’t excessive but the volume is higher than most streets with homes.
The letter says the city talked with its traffic engineering consultant about how to reduce cut-through traffic, and the recommended solution was to install on-street parking on parts of the north side of the street — making it less appealing and pushing traffic to Manchester.
The parking would be staggered to allow gaps for vehicles to pass.
I work in downtown Maplewood- and use Marietta. It’s hard to pull out of the parking lot – cars fly around that corner. I feel for the residents.
Maybe they should put speed bumps on the street like they have on flora. And talk about cut through streets my parents have lived on lohmeyer between Sutton and big bend and that is a cut through race track 24/7 they need speed bumps on their street also. I’m sure they will never do anything for them. Good luck.
I don’t understand the signs on Big Bend. No left turn from 4 to 6 pm, but nothing in the morning rush. I live on Weaver and a lot of cars cut through here to bypass the back up on Big Bend. I walk my dog and i’ve had cars make the turn so fast that it was a good thing i wasn’t crossing the street. Speed limit is 25 and lowering it wouldn’t do a bit of good, they don’t adhere to it anyway.
That traffic is likely a result of Manchester being a backed up mess, so any strategy that attempts to drive traffic back onto Manchester is missing the point.
Why don’t we just put gates on both ends of the street and make it so the only people who can drive on Marietta are residents? Nobody else is ever allowed to drive on the street.
Who pays for that?
That is most certainly sarcasm
Not entirely sarcasm. Seems like some people want Marietta as a private street that nobody else should be allowed on. I still think the main problem is the traffic coming off Marshall. Make Marietta one way eastbound only. If that doesn’t work then block the street off at both ends so that residents can have it to themselves.
It’s a public street that people don’t want others using is what I thought you were getting at. If you want a private street move to one, right? I didn’t buy on that block because I didn’t want to deal with the traffic, I chose not to. I can understand people’s frustrations but unless you’ve been there for 25 years I’m not sure there’s much room for complaints.
Literally no one who lives on Marietta has said anything about making the street private. We want sensible and effective enforcement of the existing traffic laws and speeding deterrents. If you have an issue with that please join us at the city council meeting tomorrow.
Who pays for that?
I hope Marietta is not made into a one-way street, since I live near one end of Marietta, and use Marietta to get to Sutton when I have business on Sutton. I’m wondering a few things. Have things gotten worse on Marietta (as far as volume) since there is so much roadwork going on on the north side of Manchester? One of our Maplewood electees said he is sure the problem is volume; wouldn’t making the nearby one-way streets two-way alleviate some of the Marietta volume? Are there speed limit signs posted on Marietta? Why not make that a 15 mile per hour speed zone? I occasionally use Marietta, and wouldn’t mind 15; it’s such a short stretch. By the way, has anyone noticed how thick the traffic has gotten on Marshall in the morning, going North, over the past year or so? What changed? It’s so hard to pull off Sarah in the a.m., especially when some of the drivers block the intersection. Also, does anyone know the best approach to getting “resident only” parking signs? Is it possible? – similar to a resident on Hazel (I think)? Parking is ridiculous on Sarah when there are events, Schlafly on market Wednesdays, Schlafly on weekends, etc.
All the MSD work going on certainly has shifted traffic patterns and added load onto streets before that were previously less traveled. Yale became a highway when Bellevue was partially closed off. Other east/west streets get more cars with the work on Bruno that is taking forever. I could keep on going but you get the idea.
Now folks let”s be fair a out this. If the city officials and the traffic consultant think that opening up parking is a good idea, let’s have a one or two month test and we will use the city officials’ and consultant’s personal vehicles for the parked vehicles.
Does that seem fair to everyone?
I live on Marietta & don’t have a driveway. I have doubts this will reduce or slow down traffic and I seriously wonder about the wisdom of using resident vehicles as speed bumps.
However, I was thrilled to hear about the proposed solution because there’d be extra parking during festivals and busy nights. If this parking solution doesn’t get implemented, I’d hope we get speed bumps and that resident only parking at least gets extended down the street.
Can we talk about out-of-control road construction in Maplewood? If you’re northbound on Marshall and you want to cross Manchester, you have to go down to Sutton, making Marietta a natural cut-through. Sutton is the only north-south artery with clear access to both sides of Manchester east of Big Bend. This has to be a contributing factor to the traffic on Marietta. Adding street parking seems like a recipe for more damaged cars and difficult maneuvering for delivery trucks. If you really want to get the traffic off Marietta, close the Marshall side to vehicles and block it off with Schoemehl pots or something. Boom: walkable.
Or restrict turning onto Marietta during rush hour times when traffic is highest. I see restrictions like this up and down Big Bend so why can’t they do something like this on a more residential oriented street.
I would agree that some of the issue may be heightened by the construction all over town. I have had several times where I leave in the morning one way and when I come home that night I have to circle around to come home another way due to the construction. Several times I have told folks “I can see my house I just cannot get there!”
But I don’t think the residents are just talking about the last couple of months that work has been getting done. I believe they are talking about a long term problem.
Streets are for people to drive on…get over it and quit crying. I’ve taken that road many times and I find it hard to believe anyone would be going up to 40 mph.
No one is crying so let’s not get dramatic. We have traffic laws for a reason. Yes, streets are there for people to drive on, no they can’t drive however they please. And my porch cam which catches every single car driving down Marietta trumps your experience driving down the street for 15 seconds at a time every once in a while.
Every single day we have cars flying down going 50+ miles an hour. One of the biggest offenders are the Jimmy Johns drivers. Once, a resident went up to Jimmy Johns to talk about it and she was basically told tough. That’s when we started calling the police on the delivery drivers. I once shouted at a speeder to slow down, he swerved his car aggressively towards me like he was going to fly onto the side walk and hit me. We have video footage of a road rage incident because a speeder couldn’t fly past a driver who was going the speed limit.
What we’re asking for is enforcement of the existing traffic laws.
Eric , your the one ? . The speeding is a big problem . This is also a property liability issue . Our car was totaled in September . Please , come park in one of the new street parking spots !
That’s life in an urban environment. If you don’t like it move to Wildwood.
That is why there are one way streets in an urban environment.
Attitudes like Gina’s are kinda garbage. We’re fighting to ?️change the conditions where we’ve chosen to live and where we like to live, no one mentioned Wildwood until you. Go take Manchester instead of Marietta and save me all your crap please.
Lol. 50+ mph
That does seem to be a bit of an exaggeration, since the street is only one block long. I do believe that people are speeding down the street and that adding parking is not going to make people slow down. Speed bumps should be tried first.
I live on Flora between Sutton and Arbor, we have 2 speed bumps and let me tell you it does not slow the drivers down. Some will slow down, some, for the speed bumps, but fly between them and as you, I thought it would slow down the amount of traffic on our street, in all honesty it seems it has multiplied. In the mornings and evenings it’s non stop cars. I worry about the kids walking to the bus stop, standing at the bus stop and playing outside. Our children should be able to play in their front yard if so desired and not have to worry about vehicles flying up and down streets. Good luck residents on Marietta, I hope you find a solution but I wouldn’t hold your breath, unfortunately people are going to cut through and speed regardless of speed bumps or whatever else they decide to do
Also, I would like to point out that this traffic study began on Easter weekend when traffic is reduced greatly.
Exactly ! The speed study is not accurate . The deterrent speed mph sign slows them right down . We had two cars swipe each other last month both attempting to turn on to Marietta at the same time from Marshall ave . I pushed for eight months getting the cross walk marked better @ Marshall & Marietta . Jenny our rep suggested the solar signs just put in . Rarely did anyone stop for the school kids .
If I were on city council my vote would be for speed bumps (haha). But in all seriousness speed bumps never stop me from taking a street. They just…slow me down.go figure.
Just my thought…..If you are looking to slow traffic down…just put in a speed bump in the center of Marietta. Both entrances to the parking lot are still accessible. The street is a through street…and should be kept that way. People with small children should teach their children to play in the yards or back yard…not in the streets. You might even be able to fit two speed bumps in between the entrances.
The kids obviously aren’t playing in the street, but we do leave the house with them. We shouldn’t have to worry about us or our children getting hit by a car as we walk them to the bus stop. We shouldn’t have to worry about a speeding car jumping the curb and hitting a child (or anyone else) walking down the sidewalk to a friends house (because they can’t go from house to house from the fenced back yards). Speed bumps between the parking lot entrances would be great.
Small children grow up. Have you ever tried riding a skateboard or bicycle in a back yard?
Agreeing with Amy, Harold, Mr. Lana and most everyone on here.
Flora and Elm have speed bumps on the east side of Sutton, so why not give that a try and see if it slows traffic. Speed bumps may also reduce traffic volume in the morning.
Speed bumps aren’t going to do much good with the non-Maplewood residents who are using Marshall and Marietta as their personal speedways.
Make the street one way eastbound. Add in speed bumps. If that doesn’t do any good then block the street off.
Please don’t make it one-way eastbound. Please don’t block the street off.
I live on Flora between Sutton and Big Bend and we already have parking on both sides of the street.
This does not slow traffic at all.
With Marietta’s curve people will just sideswipe cars more often.
What is needed is more Police enforcement or Rumble Strips- crosswalks made of bumpy stone, to remind speeders to SLOW Down!
Most speeders are going 30-40 when the speed limit is 20-25
Why not just speed humps/bumps?
There is a parking area/lot on the north side of Marietta. The patrons of the business on Manchester use this parking area. I think this parking lot is one cause of a heavier flow of traffic. How do you propose these patrons use this parking area, if they don’t drive on Marietta Avenue?
I don’t think adding parking on the North side of the street will decrease traffic. I do think it will cause a possibility of traffic accidents.
There are apartments and a lot of houses East of Marshall. People on or East of Marshall between Manchester and Flora, have but one choice to go West, unless they want to drive to Flora or Manchester. That one choice is Marietta Avenue.
Agree. I think most of the traffic on Marietta is local, besides those trying to get in or out of the parking lot.
If they want to fix a street, try fixing Limit and making it a one-way. Two cars cannot get through Limit at the same time. Big accident prone area.
So do we need more parking for that area? Is the city lot always filled? There are only houses on one side of the street so who is going to be parking there? Probably not just the residents but folks going to the places on Maplewood.
I’m a resident of Marietta and while speeding cars has been an enormous issue, this is not what I or many other residents of Marietta want. I’m disappointed that this solution wasn’t presented to the residents before going to the council. We’ve been working closely with our council member for months on this, but we’re just now seeing this proposed solution and many of us don’t think it’s appropriate or that it would be effective.
Almost all of us have had our cars side swiped if we parked on the street and that’s with parking only allowed on one side. Most of the speeders come through in the morning to avoid Manchester traffic back-ups. At that time the Marietta lot is largely empty. So, even if street parking is allowed, I doubt it will be filled up by 8:30am when you have a big empty parking lot right there. Almost all of us have to back out of our driveway, which can be tricky enough with cars flying out of the parking lot without looking. We don’t need the extra challenge of working around parked cars on both sides of the street AND speeders.
We have 15 young children on this street. All we’ve ever asked for are a couple of speed bumps (which are bolt-in ramp style) like they have on other maplewood streets. The city has told us no because of truck deliveries to the business on Manchester, so why not put them between the parking lot entrances? Wouldn’t increased street parking be a hindrance to the trucks as well? I hope we can come to a sensible solution that will be good for the city and keep the residents safe.
Has anyone ever suggested the idea of making the parking side of the street the opposite (North) side of the street? This would prevent people from backing out of their drive way between parked cars.
No, honestly that’s not even on really our radar. It’s the speeding and aggressive drivers that concern all of us. I once shouted for a speeder to slow down from the side walk and he swerved his car like he was going to hit me. And yes, I called the police and reported it.
Maybe they should invest in improving the flow of Manchester Rd?
I’m with Joe on this one.
Im not opposed to traffic calming measures and strongly favor foot traffic over car traffic but in this case it just seems unnecessary. The study showed vehicles aren’t speeding. Roads should be utilized. Thats what they are there for. There is no such thing as a cut through street. It is just an alternative route. Cities are designed in a grid pattern to allow more route choices and therefore ease traffic on any one single road. If more parking was needed then that makes a stronger argument than, treating public roads like is extension of people’s private driveway.
Joe I invite you to park on Marietta . We have all been hit . This is a property liability issue, high volume inattentive cut through drivers . We are not claiming Marietta as our private driveway . Patrons to Maplewood business as well as residents in Marietta have to avoid the cut through traffic all the time . Most of the traffic is southeast to northwest cut throughs wanting to avoid the light at Marshall & not parking in the lot to shop here .