Patricia Avenue Closure Up for Review Oct. 20

One city commissioner has been walking the neighborhood, looking for creative solutions for those affected when .

Traffic data collected over the course of the six-month closure is up for review for a city commission meeting on Oct. 20, city spokeswoman Courtney King said. Residents are encouraged to attend.

David Carson said a woman on nearby Jackmar Road had an idea worth noting.

“Why don’t you simply put a gate up? Don’t close it; put a gate up,” Carson relayed to commissioners at the Sept. 22 meeting, one day before the closure's six-month mark. “You’d still have access into that neighborhood off of Pinehurst. People could buy a garage door opener, the fire department would have a garage door opener.”

Officials erected the barricade on Patricia just south of McLean Street on March 23 in response to residents complaining of speeders. It was a once-popular cut-through to Pinehurst Road.

In response to the complaints, Joan Rice, city traffic engineer, originally proposed using speed humps to slow down drivers. She suggested resorting to closure only if that measure failed. But commissioners voted 4-1 in February for skipping straight to the final measure.

“All the closure did was PASS the problem on to other neighborhoods,” reader James Doncourt in June. “Now San Salvador, between Patricia and Pinehust has become a nightmare — cars zip thru there all day long, we have children here that no longer can play outside safely.”

Carson continues searching for solutions.

“Ultimately [a gate] may be a really bad idea,” Carson said. “But I think it’s a good enough idea to talk about it.”

[Updated 5:16 p.m., Oct. 4, 2011]