Some of you may have noticed that “islands” have been painted on Newport Ave with yellow paint. These “islands” have been discussed at length over the last few months as a part of a years-long process to slow speeding on Newport Ave. The process has included multiple meetings with the city’s Transportation Engineer and the Talbot Park and Wards Corner civic leagues.
One of the results of the discussions was that the residents who live near and along Newport Ave did not want the yellow “islands” because they are unsightly for a residential area and were, according to the city, unproven solutions.
Unfortunately, the City of Norfolk mistakenly painted the yellow “islands” earlier this week proving our worst fears. The “islands” are indeed unsightly and, based on our objective standard of standing and watching the traffic, failed to slow the traffic at all. Most drivers drive right over the “islands” as if they are not there.
The City has admitted that the installation of the islands was a mistake and has agreed to remove them. Further, a representative from the City Managers office has agreed, pending Council approval, to do the following:
- Removing the yellow “islands” that were mistakenly placed this week
- Install 4 way stop signs at North Shore Road and Talbot Hall Road
- Install 3 way stop signs at Kingsley and Newport Ave
- Install “Children at Play” and “New Traffic Pattern” signs
- Possibly install stop signs at the Warren Street intersection
- Further study and find a solution to make the Granby Elementary crosswalk safer
- Set a long term goal of installing landscaped medians along Newport Ave
A special thanks to the City Managers office for agreeing to move forward on these issues.
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
The Granby Elementary crosswalk needs to be moved. There is too much going on there with the parking in front of the school and the parking lot on the side.
I don’t feel we need landscaping on Newport Ave. I would rather see money spent on street repair.
The city is going to become one giant stop sign. I don’t see children playing on or around Newport Ave, therefore without children, there is no danger of striking them. There is little evidence that there is more danger to children, residence, and/or even noise at 30MPH or 25MPH. Let’s let speed enforcement generate revenue and be a police matter. More stop signs is not the answer.
There are children present at certain times of the day around Granby, but this is isolated and like any other school in America, there are times when children need to negotiate the streets, hence the flashing lights to further decrease the speed limit. Often, a few people sit around and do nothing but watch cars and complain about how fast they go. You’re lucky, you get to sit at home and watch cars, those in the cars have somewhere to be and slowing them down further will simply result in rolling stops at stop sign, something else you will complain about.
25 MPH is reasonable, the police make money on enforcing the speed limit, why fix a problem that doesn’t seem to exist?