The placement recommended by City staff is to replace stop signs at intersections with cell towers.
As shown in the images below, a "typical intersection" would go from the picture on the left with just a stop sign, to the picture on the right with the stop sign mounted on the cell tower.
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| Red circle added to show Stop Sign |
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| Red circle added to show new Stop Sign |
A citizen in a Suburban cuts the corner too close and there goes the cell site.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to the Intellectuals of Gaithersburg to sterilize the residents at large.
ReplyDeleteTo: City of Gaithersburg Mayor and Council:
ReplyDeleteIn your packet for Monday evening, staff makes the recommendation that stop signs can be replaced with DAS Antenna cell towers. I am not sure what staff is making this recommendation, but it flies in the face of transportation safety design guidelines.
Cars hit things.
Because cars hit things there is an area next to the road known as the clear zone. Anything in that zone should have the ability to breakaway if hit.
Structures that can not breakaway, like cell towers, are to be put as far away from the edge of the road as possible. Stop signs are to be put where they are visible. Bottom line, in the world of transportation safety, a Stop Sign and a cell tower do not go together. Unless Crown Castle has designed a small cell tower with a breakaway base, they should not be replacing Stop Signs.
The need for a breakaway base also applies to light poles in the clear zone next to roads.
Even the commercial sites are near residential areas. So nice of the city to make neighborhoods have cell towers in their yards, next to houses. This can't be good for resale values in these neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteHow much is the city getting for these cell towers and where is the money going?
On the bright side, they can double up as high tech fly and mosquito traps.
ReplyDelete