Spending an evening looking at planning documents might not sound like the most exciting time, but residents will have a chance to see exactly what area road projects are in store for the near future.
The Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, a transportation planning agency, is having an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. March 22 in the Omni Room on the second floor of the City-County Building. During the event, residents can review and comment on the 2012-2015 transportation plan.
The list reflects up-to-date priorities for road projects, including some significant changes.
For example, design work is now to begin in 2013 to widen Maplecrest Road between State Boulevard and Stellhorn Road. With the extension of Maplecrest south to New Haven and the city’s plan to widen the road south of State, the agency decided to widen the road north of State to provide a four-lane thoroughfare throughout the road’s expanse. This will eliminate traffic clogging in the narrower section.
This is a project I’d love to see, but it does come at a cost. To allow for the Maplecrest widening, the agency decided to delay widening St. Joe Center Road east of Reed Road and widening Stellhorn Road east of Maplecrest.
People who can’t attend the meeting can view the documents at www.nircc.com and send comments by e-mail to Dan.Avery@co.allen.in.us. The agency will accept comments from March 17 to March 31.
E-mail bag
Q. Will they allow cars to turn left on Fairington Drive heading south on Clinton to a green light with caution. It currently is a turn with arrow then it goes to red. So many times the way is clear to turn but you can’t because the light is red. – Mary Robertson
A. Unfortunately, Mary, the city does not believe such turns would be safe.
Shan Gunawardena, city traffic engineer, said vehicles are allowed to turn left without an arrow when it is safe to do so. This generally means speed limits are lower, there is good visibility and there aren’t multiple lanes to cross.
In this location, vehicles are legally allowed to travel 45 mph and often go much faster. In addition, he said the line of sight is poor, especially when an oncoming vehicle is also trying to turn left.
For these reasons, he said, drivers must continue to wait for an arrow to turn.
Clinton can be especially frustrating as the signals are timed to aid southbound traffic during morning rush hour and northbound traffic during evening rush hour.
Radio Sage
This week’s bonus audio question comes from Maree L., who asks about the signals on Dupont Road near Diebold Road. The segment originally aired Friday afternoon on WOWO and can be found online at www.
sage.
