Thank you for reporting this issue. The Department of Public Works will now begin its investigation into the matter.

The sidewalk is NOT safer for bicycling, no matter what the OP thinks. The priority here should be to fix the the road around the railroad tracks/city market entrance. A stop sign is superfluous. First, every exit driveway from a private lot has the duty to yield to public street traffic. Are we going to put up stop signs at every driveway? Second, putting one up is not going to stop drivers from encroaching on the sidewalk. It certainly doesn't stop them from encroaching on crosswalks that they're legally not supposed to stop in. Now, if City Market chooses, they could paint a wide white line on their asphalt prior to the sidewalk with a "Stop here before exiting" or "Don't Block Sidewalk" sign next to it. Since it is on private property, it doesn't have to conform to MUTCD specifications.

Yup.

These complaints are spot on.... I often drive east on Flynn from Southwind area and as the comments indicate folks pulling out of the Co-op parking lot sometime fail to even glance west down Flynn Ave to the lake. Moreover, late this summer the tall weeds and some bushes on the western side of the tracks "clumped" up to further obstruct the view west for those pulling out of the Co-op parking lot. As the comments indicate the pedestrian path in that area is only on the north side of Flynn, but many folks as well as bikers continue to head east walking along the south side of Flynn Avenue. When they get near the track in that area (as the commentator noted) they are forced to step further out into the street in order to cross the tracks and get to the coop. One cautionary alert would be to put a sign up on the east side of the parking lot access on to Flynn. I've mentioned this a number of times at the Co-op - filling out customer complaint cards, but apparently they have no jurisdiction over intersection although placing a stop sign at that corner near their building would help solve the problem. (it would also mean tearing up some attractive curved bricks they've used on their sidewalk in that area and probably would entail some expense). I'm not sure folks realize that there are 3 condo areas all west of the tracks, bordering on Oak Ledge Park - at least 200 apartments meaning there are a lot of folks who drive up and down Flynn Avenue, just to get in and out of the area. So there is a lot of unanticipated traffic. Another huge condo area at Red Rocks often take the short cut through Southwind to get to Flynn rather than take Home Avenue East.
Whew, this is complicated, but believe me it is a safety issue. Three times in August cars cut me off as they pulled out of the co-op lot turning right (east) without even looking west - assuming they had the right of way. Many folks exiting the Co-op parking lot are not aware of the volume of traffic heading east on Flynn, just over the track.

Good Afternoon,

As it turns out DPW Staff cannot support this recommendation at this time. There are two issues which prevents a STOP sign from being placed at the requested location. A STOP sign must be placed at an intersection and not a driveway, and the City Market driveway for the parking lot is on private property. A STOP sign cannot be placed and/or enforced on private property. In order for DPW to place a STOP signs it must meet the MUTCD Warrant analysis, and unfortunately this request does not meet the proper standard.

You can discuss this issue with the DPW Commission at their next meeting on Wednesday, January 15th, 2020 at 6:30 pm. This meeting will be in our Front Conference Room, our office is at 645 Pine Street. Feel free to call me should you have any questions. The Department of Public Works has resolved this request. Thanks for helping to keep Burlington a great place to live and work.

Best,

Phillip Peterson, Associate Engineer
Burlington Department of Public Works
645 Pine Street
Burlington, VT 05402
802-865-5832 (phone)
ppeterson@burlingtonvt.gov

Thanks for fixing this request!