Clarissa Kell | Daily Press A car turns left onto Ludington Street at the intersection of 5th and Ludington Street in Escanaba Wednesday. The Escanaba Traffic Safety Committee recently voted to eliminate two traffic lights along Ludington Street at the intersections of 5th and 12th Streets.

ESCANABA — Two traffic lights at Ludington Street intersections in Escanaba may be eliminated because they hinder safe traffic flow.

The first step to eliminate the traffic lights at the intersections at 5th Street and 12th Street along Ludington Street were approved by the Escanaba Traffic Safety Committee Tuesday night.

“Ultimately the goal is to try to flow traffic safely — it’s what we try to do,” Escanaba Public Safety Director Rob LaMarche said.

On Feb. 4, LaMarche issued a press release about the meeting where the discussion of eliminating the light at 5th and Ludington Street was on the agenda. He had encouraged residents to attend the meeting to take part in the discussion.

According to LaMarche, no one from the public attended.

The Escanaba Traffic Safety Committee, dedicated to listening to residents’ concerns regarding traffic issues within the city, meets every other month.

LaMarche explained a resident came to a meeting and requested the elimination of the light at 5th and Ludington Street be added to the next agenda, as it stalls traffic.

The committee discussed two lights along Ludington Street, one at the intersection of 5th and one at the intersection of 12th, and voted to remove the lights pending engineer approval.

According to LaMarche, he presented data to the committee on the intersections along Ludington Street from 4th to 16th Street.

The data included intersection-related traffic accidents that occurred at each intersection in the last five years.

When it came to intersection related traffic accidents at 5th and Ludington Street, there were a total of five accidents.

LaMarche said he compared that intersection’s data with the similar intersections along Ludington, which included 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Streets.

“5th Street, the one with a light, … had five intersection-related accidents,” he said. “The other blocks 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th, had a total of five amongst all of them.”

Over the span of five years there were two intersection related traffic crashes at the intersection of 4th Street, two at the intersection of 6th Street, none at the intersection of 7th Street and one at the intersection of 8th Street.

“It’s just odd that we have all of these intersections and the one with a light has by far the most accidents compared to the ones around it,” LaMarche said.

When it came to intersection related traffic accidents at 12th and Ludington Street, there were a total of 11 within five years — the second highest of all the intersections from 4th to 16th.

LaMarche compared the data of 12th Street to the data of 10th Street and 14th Street, two intersection near that have traffic lights, as well.

10th Street had 12 intersection related accidents in the span of 5 years, and 14th Street had eight intersection related accidents.

The numbers were similar, but 10th and 14th Street are known to be higher in traffic flow than 12th Street, LaMarche said.

He explained 12th Street was flagged, along with 5th Street, because of its high volume of accidents within the intersection and its low volume of traffic flow through the intersection.

According to LaMarche, he felt the elimination of the intersection at 5th and Ludington Street would be beneficial when looking at the data, but he did have some concerns with eliminating the light at 12th and Ludington.

He said he had presented to the committee the possibility that the lack of a light at 12th Street may cause an increase in difficulty for people backing out of parking spots along Ludington, since the light allows a break in traffic flow.

LaMarche added he isn’t sure if this concern has any merit and it’s something the engineers will consider in their recommendation.

“(The lights) will be pending engineering — the way the roads are designed. If it’s okay engineering-wise, then those two (lights) will be brought to the council,” he said.

LaMarche said he plans to meet with the city engineers within the next couple of weeks.

Depending on the city engineers’ recommendation, LaMarche said he would bring the possible eliminations to the Escanaba City Council for final discussion and consideration.

The final decision to either keep or eliminate traffic lights is up to the city council, LaMarche said.

He added the lights should be brought to the city council by either March or April.