City officials put the brakes on changes to southeast traffic circle
Posted Dec 3, 2012 8:18 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
City officials have pulled a 180 on changes to a traffic circle in the southeast, after receiving an overwhelming amount of complaints from commuters.
Last month, road crews painted lines on the McKenzie Towne roundabout that forced drivers in the outside lane to exit onto McKenzie Towne Blvd.
Ward 12 Alderman Shane Keating says it was just too much of a change.
“Very confusing for the drivers, I think it’s something that should have been spread over a number of months, starting in the spring and then we would have been able to put the changes in proper at the right time,” he tells 660News.
As a result the city is returning the roadway back to the way it was, and work will begin December 10th.
“With winter coming, some of the lanes were being covered by snow and in some cases it was not the epoxy paint, it was latex paint so some of it was wearing off as it was,” he explains.
Drivers are being warned to expect delays and detours as work gets underway and the newly painted lines are scrubbed off.
It’s the second such reversal in less than a month after commuters complained about bike lines in Lakeview that were later removed.
Keating expects the work will be finished in a day and it will be done at a very minimal cost to the city.
“I mean the traffic study would have been done on a regular basis anyway and the initial painting, there was a crew there for one day and they did do the painting so we would have had that cost,” the alderman adds.
And he adds in his blog, businesses in the area will be kept up to date on their progress.
Crews will lay sand down and then street sweepers will come in to scrub the circle clean.
Some lines will be added but not as much as residents first saw in November.
According to Keating, 30,000 to 40,000 cars travel the traffic circle daily.
