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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1982)
local Battalion/Page 3 December 3, 1982 irgo luct nee the pn 'in the biljif know if y 0 [ rees until if * in quick ft 'luy the conn Officer Weii lie captain.’ '• What’s up <) put morel f, and I wain 'ges and toi[ •stall MS miss oblem witk )' are yous hat lieavy seas* gallons of I io intention! urity needs he needs s 1 enough fa lose waves! ■pression." lown, Dole Stay the com 1 Bryan says computer key to road repair by Michael Larkin Battalion Reporter Street repairs in Bryan will be more elficiently handled if the city installs a computer system to establish priorities for repairing streets, the city’s municipal services operations manager says. The City of Bryan Traffic Division is considering install ing a computer system that would facilitate street repair and maintenance, said Ed llschner, operations manager of the municipal services de partment which oversees the Traffic Division. He said that a pavement management system known as PAVER can help maintain Bryan streets by establishing a priority system. The compu ter could tell city officials which streets need to be re paired first. PAVER, costing more than $69,()()() to install, would be a joint project between the Municipal Services Depart ment and the civil engineer ing department of Texas A&M University, llschner said. The University would help develop the computer prog ram for PAVER and provide graduate students to help gather information, he said. While analyzing Bryan’s 250 miles of streets, the students would record data on street conditions and road composi tions. Using this information, PAVER could tell mainte nance crews which streets re quire immediate repair, llschner said. Currently, Bryan depends on individual complaints to fix streets. In a move to improve ser vice, the Bryan street depart ment was reorganized as the Traffic Division on Oct. 1. The Traffic Division di vides the city into three maintenance and repair dis tricts. Each district has an operational supervisor and trained crew. Within the Traffic Division, there are three sections to support the maintenance dis tricts: drainage maintenance, concrete repair and traffic. The drainage maintenance section is responsible for maintaining and repairing the drainage system in Bryan. This is the first time that an individual section has been set up for that purpose, llschner said. A foreman and nine per sonnel make up the section. The concrete repair section is assigned to the repairing and maintaining of gutters, streets, sidewalks and any other city structure made from concrete, llschner said. A foreman and five personnel make up the crew. Finally, the traffic section is responsible for the installa tion and maintenance of signs, lights and markings. A superintendant and five crew members are assigned to the section. llschner said the reorgani zation will help Bryan main tain its streets better. Since each district has its own dis tinct crew, a feeling of respon sibility will be instilled within the crew, he said. Crew mem bers will develop an affinity and a knowledge for the dis trict that a temporary crew would not have, llschner added. Although the changes may help improve streets, the city still faces an uphill battle to repair its streets. Because of rising costs, an inadequate tax base and other needs, the city tends to ignore street repairs, llschner said. One of the problems is a lack of street user fees. There is no way to charge people for the use of streets, he said. As a result, numerous potholes can be found in Bryan. Potholes, which are caused by traffic and water, cost about $50 to $ 100 each to repair. The cost to repair the potholes includes the use of materials, labor and equip ment, llschner said. Although the Traffic Divi sion is not responsible for the major reconstruction of streets, llschner cites the fol lowing two projects as exam ples of high costs. The current Villa Maria Project, which stretches about one mile from Knoll Lane to Briarcrest Drive, is costing Bryan $2 million. The project includes the consfruction of a four-lane street with a con tinuous left-turn lane. The other project, which is on Pinfeather Road and simi lar to the Villa Maria Project, will cost about $1.5 million. In order to repair its streets, the city of Bryan allots the Traffic Division an annual budget of approximately $1.7 million. ,<# I industry 1 * i blit detol coverage; • $20 mill 1 ! t that the action of £ y turning 1 by Shelley Hoekstra Battalion Reporter The College Station Planning ahd Zoning Commission Thurs day night granted permission to the College Station Baptist Church for the replacement of a sign. Pastor Kenneth Griffith said that the church’s present sign has been in use since 1973, when the church first was founded. The church has expanded both in membership and building size since its opening. Griffith said that with the expansion of the church, an expanded sign was in order. A 19-foot cross will be the focal point of the new sign. In other business, the com mission: —approved permission for a 40 children daycare center lo cated in apartments #601 and 603 of the Plantation Oaks Apartments at 1501 Highway 30. —authorized the rezoning of a 37.06 acre tract of land located at.the southwest corner of the intersection of West Luther and Wellborn to a planned industrial district. —passed preliminary plans for Shenandoah Subdivision, lo- office building located on Uni- cated on the southwest corner of versity Drive and Forest Drive Highway 6 and Barron Road. —agreed to reconsider a when landscape plans had been parking lot plan for a two story added to the parking lot plan. ig n < zenry. oran 1 AKEZ TEQUILA ...stands above the rest GOLD OR SILVER IMPORTED & BOTTLED BY TEQUILA JALISCO S A ST. LOUIS MO 80 PROOF PFi?mr?Pf7 l mmr?fT T prr | pr?mr?r7HUIL I 5 5 1 i Brian ‘n Wil 1 :id caW^P / room my* 1 "' mi, , r lens co'*' ,0. repot ; ver. th e fO ,ave m° rl ible f° r ring* j .6849 or , 111- rted p , a Tr? CONGRATS AGGIES! It's time for graduation and graduation gifts...but before you begin thinking of what you — the 1982 graduate of Texas A & M — would like for graduation... Say Thanks! Tell the people that stood by you during your academic career at Texas A & M -- thanks! -- give them a 1982 Aggie Ringcrest® plaque. A walnut finished deep cut moulding frames the original Aggie Ringcrest®. An inscription plate is included making a very personal "thank you." We will have a full stock of single and double Aggie Ringcrest® plaques immediately after graduation to engrave the inscription of your choice. And while you're saying "thanks"... Single plaque: $ 29.95 Double plaque: $ 49.95 Don't forget to... Preserve the Accomplishment • with a photographic reproduction of your Texas A & M diploma on bronze. This treasured momento will be mounted on a maroon velvet background and touched off with a walnut colored frame. We will photograph your dip loma WHILE YOU WAIT so you can take theoriginal home with you. Your bronze diploma will be in your hands no later than Christmas! available in three sizes. Bronze Diplomas: $ 56.00 - $ 100.00 CMC will be open especially for 1982 Aggie Graduates and their families on December 11, from 9 AM - 5 PM. OMC is located on FM 2818 (the West Bypass), north of The Texas Hall of Fame. Harvey Road to change Left-turn lane is planned by Tammy Jones Battalion Reporter To remedy the high accident rate on the Harvey Road section of Highway 30, the State High way Department is planning to add a left-turn lane and lower the speed limit on the road, City Engineer John Black said. Near the end of November, the Waco Paving Co. signed a contract to overlay the section of Highway 30 to add a center left- turn lane. The overlay will form five lanes without widening the highway, Black said. “This left-turn lane is great even though there will no longer be a shoulder, but that still leaves us with the high speeds and high accident rates,” he said. Last spring, College Station city engineers began an effort to convince the State Highway De partment that some improve ment must be made because of the unusually high accident rate on Highway 30, Black said. The engineers have done studies on speed limits and the increase in the amount of traffic in the last two years. The results, Black said, were not positive. The studies show that in the last year the average daily traffic on Harvey Road has increased by 52 percent beside Culpepper Plaza and by 33 per cent beside Post Oak Mall. The accident rate for Harvey Road is six times higher than the state average for an urban area. “Since March, there have been 116 accidents, with 70 per sons having to be taken to the hospital with injuries,” Black said. “Compared to the previous 12 months’ 124 total accidents and 79 injuries, this year will have much higher rates because of the Christmas traffic that is just beginning now.” College Station engineers found that the high speeds, along with the lack of a left-turn lane on Harvey Road were a ma jor cause of the accidents. Black said the engineers asked the State Highway De partment to reduce the speed limit by 10 miles per hour in the congested areas. The state de partment conducted another study and agreed that the speed limit should be reduced, but by five miles per hour, Black said. “The differences of opinion have not been worked out, but we have gone ahead and re quested that the limits be re duced at least seven miles per hour if not 10,” Black said. “This leaves us somewhat helpless be cause the state has the final say so in the issue since Highway 30 is a state highway, even though we are the ones that know the city.” The Texas State Highway De partment also has made plans to install traffic lights on Harvey Road at Highway 6. Now you know United Press International An expectant mother, diag nosed as carrying twins, inex plicably produces but a single baby. The other child has dis appeared without a trace. This phenomenon, known as the “vanishing twin” in Europe, may be far more commonplace than ever expected. The December issue of Scien ce Digest reveals that vanishing twin episodes first came to light only in the past few years when ultrasound allowed doctors to peek into the womb and see mul tiple pregnancies very early in gestation. What they found, with startling frequency, was that one member of the fetal pair suddenly stops developing in the first trimester and is reab sorbed into its mother’s tissues. Obstetricians Louis Keith and Helain Tandy of Northwest ern University Medical School have Ijegun combing case histor ies to determine the frequency of such episodes. P&Z commission approves sign for church Something Else Hair Salon Perm Special 35 00 reg. 40 00 & 45 00 Student Rate Hair Cuts 8 00 reg. 10 00 M-F 8-7 Sat. 8-12:00 Appt. not always necessary 693-9877 404 E. University Thousands put their fingers on it.. Advertising in The Battalion 845-2611 ' 3 * * * SAVE UP TO 50% * * * 4 4 * * PRE* CHRISTMAS 4 4*4 4 4 4 SALE NOW IN PROGRESS. 4 4 * *444 4*44 Tfoday’s gift of fine jewelry soon becomes tomorrow’s family * * * treasure. Let Future Heirlooms 4 4 4 4 help you make this Christmas A * 4 A special with elegant gifts for the AAA A A A 4 A 4 A A A important people in your life. 4 A A A A AAAA4AAAA4AA44A a 4 a a FUTURE HEIRLOOMS a a 4 a 105 North Main, Downtown Bryan 4* 4 404 East University Drive, College Station * * 4