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Need for Franklin-Vine four-way stop raised
Franklin Street travels and travails continue to be a hot topic at Greencastle City Council meetings.
Already under the microscope for a possible elimination of parking from Locust Street east, safety issues along Franklin Street came up again Tuesday night as business owner Chris Weeks urged the Council to make the Franklin-Vine street intersection a four-way stop.
Weeks, who is opening the Wasser Beer Co. brew pub in the old NAPA storefront at the southeast corner of Franklin and Vine, said he has had a perfect vantage point the past few months to experience just how dangerous that intersection can be.
Currently traffic traveling east and west on Franklin Street stops but vehicles using Vine Street north and south have the right of way. Drivers unfamiliar with the territory typically believe it is a four-way stop and often enter the intersection in front of oncoming traffic. Cue sound of squealing tires and brakes.
"I've seen numerous 'almost-accidents' at that intersection," Weeks told the Council at its City Hall session, suggesting the need to make the corner a four-way stop, an issue that locals have debated for years.
"From what I've seen, it looks dangerous and could become more dangerous," Weeks said, alluding to the likelihood of increased traffic and parking when his business and other projects in the vicinity are operational.
Second Ward Councilor Staci Langdon called the suggestion "a wonderful idea," agreeing that she has also seen numerous close calls.
Council President Adam Cohen said he really can't see a downside to a change.
"If you're not a local, you don't realize it's not a four-way stop," he said, admitting to falling victim to that indiscretion himself when he first moved to Greencastle.
"And I don't think it would impede traffic," Cohen reasoned.
However, putting up a four-way stop isn't as simple as changing signs. City Attorney Laurie Hardwick explained that state statute requires a stopsign to be warranted. And that can mean a traffic study.
"I guess we'll have to look into that," she said.
Calling Weeks' suggestion "a good idea," Councilman Gary Lemon made a motion to have city officials look into determining if a change can be justified.
Mayor Bill Dory thanked Weeks for bringing the traffic concern to the Council's attention, noting that it "also goes to the issue of parking along Franklin."
That issue was raised earlier this year by constituent Danny Mesecher, a former City Council candidate who said parking along Franklin has created a "game of chicken" at inopportune times for drivers tryng to navigate the east-west corridor.
Mayor Dory told the Banner Graphic that City Police Chief Tom Sutherlin recently supplied him with a five-year accident study of East Franklin Street intersections (2011-15).
The most accidents during that period occurred at Franklin Street and Indianapolis Road (Kroger intersection), where 11 mishaps occurred, all of the property-damage variety.
The second-most Franklin Street accidents occurred at Franklin and College Avenue, where College has the right of way and the Franklin Street traffic stops. The city has posted signage there noting "cross traffic does not stop." Regardless, seven collisions have occurred at that location in the past five years, including one personal-injury accident.
The oddly aligned Franklin-Arlington street intersection was third on the list at six mishaps during the period, including one personal-injury accident.
The severity of injuries in the Franklin Street accidents, however, was not addressed in the report.
Franklin Street also produced one fatality during the period, a pickup truck-pedestrian accident which occurred in the crosswalk at the Indiana Street intersection at the northeast corner of the square.
The no-parking issue on Franklin Street is still under consideration, Mayor Dory said, as city department heads have been asked to help provide input into the ongoing concern.
Meanwhile, another citizen request addressed the possibility of making Anderson Street into a two-way street between Bloomington and Wood streets now that the Miller Asbury Apartments are open in the old Miller School.
Anderson has long been one-way eastbound east of Bloomington and the consensus of city officials and department heads was that it needs to stay that way.
Councilman Steve Fields said he has talked to a number of longtime Anderson Street residents about the issue, and each of them preferred to leave the street one-way.