City officials are planning to keep a closer eye on traffic in Ironton’s Ninth Street apartments area to make sure children have a safe place to play.

Tuesday, August 15, 2000

City officials are planning to keep a closer eye on traffic in Ironton’s Ninth Street apartments area to make sure children have a safe place to play.

An increasing population of young children has prompted a need for extra safety measures after a child was hit by a car and sustained minor injuries, Ironton Mayor Bob Cleary said.

Cleary said that means Ironton police are going to keep a closer eye on drivers traveling through the area.

"The Ninth and Madison intersection is a four-way stop," Cleary said.

He said the city doesn’t typically see a lot of accidents around the Ninth Street area but that the increase in children has caught the attention of many of the city’s officials and has suggested that there might be some need for increased patrols.

"We’ve always tried to provide extra police protection in that area for both adult and child safety," he said. "After the incident we had several weeks ago, we are planning to make several changes in the way the neighborhood is patrolled."

Council member Hugh Donald Scott said more and newer, easier to read speed limit and stop signs would help make the area safer for children and adults.

The current speed limit signs, he added, are old and hard to read.

"I feel stop signs will help improve safety," Scott said. "It seems to me that there are more young children in the area than before."

More children mean more chances a youngster will follow an errant toy out into the street in the path of an oncoming car, Scott added.

"The area does have a history of several children that have had different play articles run over such as a ball or toy of some nature."

He said Operation: Be Proud, an outreach program for young adults and adults, is continually growing in numbers and attracts more individuals to the apartment area.

Scott said the increase of individuals in the Ninth Street neighborhood raises safety issues for the community.

"When people come down the street there, they are coming a bit faster than usual," Scott said. "Quite a bit of traffic is using that stretch to go straight to the high school from U.S. 52 and Park Avenue. We want to turn the community safety around and help target the youths. The incident we did have has created a need for additional signs."

Cleary said the city plans to target stronger traffic enforcement along Ninth Street to slow motorists down.

"We are planning to provide stricter enforcement in that area," Cleary said. We are looking to run the radar more than usual to reduce the amount of speeding in that area. Officers will be issuing tickets for anyone caught running or failing to obey the traffic signs in the area. Overall, we will be patrolling the area extra heavy "

City officials say the changes that are to come to the neighborhood are an extended hand to benefit the community.

"I think it will be a welcomed improvement and will show the people in that apartment community that the mayor wants to work with them," Scott said. "The things we want to do for that community are all going to work to the benefit of Ironton and that community."