Study recommends significant change to keep Oxmoor traffic out of neighborhoods

Oxmoor Road traffic is expected to change in 2014, and it could be coming as soon as this month. 

With the opening of the new Homewood Community Center, the corridor could see increased congestion around Central Avenue. In addition, the Homewood City Council has approved the first step in an expansion of The Exceptional Foundation and for months has been looking at calming traffic around Edgewood Elementary.

Anticipating a need for improvement — specifically to keep traffic from further spilling into neighborhoods — the Homewood City Council commissioned a study of the corridor. It received the results in April and is moving forward with its recommendations.

The Oxmoor Road Corridor Study, prepared by Skipper Consulting Inc. and funded by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, focused on the stretch of Oxmoor Road between U.S. 31 and Palisades Drive. It concluded that the area between Broadway Street and Central Avenue is the most congested portion of the corridor.

The study found that due to congestion in that area, drivers bypass Oxmoor using Roseland Drive, Mayfair Drive and Manhattan Street — cutting right through the heart of Edgewood.

Council member Heather Reid said Homewood residents frequently see vehicles use their quiet roads as detours, causing them to question the safety of themselves and their children.

“A vast majority of the emails and calls I receive say traffic is moving too fast through our neighborhoods, and neighbors would like the city to install stop signs or speed bumps as a calming measure,” Reid said. “But those don’t address the bigger issue.”

 If the Council wants to decrease traffic on neighborhood streets, then it needs to improve flow on its main thoroughfares, according to the study. The solution recommended includes reducing the number of signals and upgrading the system.

“The Oxmoor Road signal system is currently not coordinated and is running outdated timings and phasing plans,” the study reads. “This contributes significantly to congestion and undue delay at the study intersections.”

In April, the Council’s Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend the Council purchase GPS timing clocks for signals, synchronize the corridor, install triggers or loops on some side streets and improve several pedestrian crossings. With in-house work, the project could cost less than $20,000, an amount within the budget for this year, Reid said.

At this time, the Council does not plan to remove any traffic signals as recommended in the study. The Committee arrived at this decision following urging from Mayor Scott McBrayer and residents on three cross streets whose signals were at one point proposed to be removed.

“It’s just too dangerous,” Edgeview Lane resident Sarah Hart said about turning onto Oxmoor from her street. “I can’t see around that curve at all.”

Improving flow on the thoroughfare is expected to alleviate potential congestion caused by the Community Center opening. With the new facility, Homewood Community Center Director Rusty Holley said membership is projected to increase by about 33 percent with the new building. 

The Oxmoor study reported that the busiest intersection on the corridor is at the Community Center. Bridge Street/East Glenwood Drive is the first intersection to receive the flow of cars from Central Avenue and Oxmoor Road headed toward Edgewood. During peak afternoon traffic, the study reported that more than 800 vehicles travel through the intersection.

Just beyond it, The Exceptional Foundation originally proposed to install a one-way exit from its proposed expansion, which didn’t meet with Council approval. Citing traffic concerns, architects working on the expansion have been asked to provide new plans that route traffic to the Foundation in and out through the Bridge Street signal.

Clark Bailey of Skipper Consulting said completing all recommendations from the Oxmoor Road Corridor Study will decrease delays on the corridor by 56 percent, and traffic currently using Roseland, Mayfair and Manhattan will reroute to use Oxmoor when capacity is increased. However, revised figures have not been released to account for retaining all signals on the corridor.