Which lane does a driver get into when they want to turn right to go to the car wash or grocery store from southbound Husky Trail? Which lane to turn right from Husky Trail onto Parker Street?
The answers to those questions came up at the Warsaw Traffic Commission meeting Wednesday.
Commission member and Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said, “Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a couple people approach me about when they come off the roundabout and are headed down toward the four-way stop intersection there by Menards, and initially you see some right-hand turn arrows. People are confused as to whether the right-hand turn arrows are strictly if you’re going to go in toward Aldi or the carwash, or a lot of people assume that they just stay in that right-hand lane up until the intersection.”
She said she knew she had seen something about the turn lanes in the paper a while back, and Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs did find it for her, but she thought maybe if the information is put out to the public again, that might help. If a vehicle is in the right-turn lane closest to the car wash and Aldi’s, then they need to use that turn lane to turn into those businesses. If they want to turn right at Parker, then the vehicle needs to move one lane over to the left and get in the other right-hand turn lane.
“I didn’t know if there was any signage or anything that could clarify that for people, but I do know that some people have a hard time understanding what they’re supposed to do,” Dobbins said.
Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon said Warsaw Police Department Capt. Brad Kellar made and posted a video online about how that all worked.
Grubbs said, “I have what he said: Remain in that lane for those approaching the car wash entrance, if you’re southbound. You’re expected to make a right turn into that road in that area, if in the right lane. Many people intending to turn at Parker to go toward the highway already merge into that lane prematurely. So what they need to do, if they’re going onto Parker, they need to be in the middle lane and then get into the right lane after that intersection going into Take 5 car wash.”
City engineer Aaron Ott responded, “Possibly. We have a solid white line painted there. That means you don’t change lanes. There needs to be a change there, in my opinion, of either that line becomes dashed or that right-turn only is a straight/right until you’re past the intersection.”
City Planner Justin Taylor said, “It definitely looks like it’s designed to go straight or turn.”
Ott said one of the right-turn lane’s markings needed adjusted.
Grubbs asked Dobbins if there’s a problem there with traffic backing up there.
“I think what’s happened is, some people are going in that lane to the left thinking they will cross over the intersection, but then there are people in the right-hand lane that are also (going to the intersection),” she said.
“And then you have a ‘who’s going to slow down’ merging conflict,” Ott said, adding that more and more on the state highways there’s solid white lines that mean they are no lane-changing zones. He said it was important for people to follow those rules, though he didn’t think people followed them very well.
Dobbins said her concern was if they could do something to make the lanes clearer to people.
WPD Capt. Joel Beam said on Parker Street next to the gas station, “We have lines also in the roadway and it’ll serve the same purpose. It’s almost like there’s a wall there, you’re not supposed to drive over those lines. You’re supposed to stay in that lane. And this is a pet peeve of mine because I see people do it all the time ... and most of the time I’m not in my squad car. So it’s actually illegal to go around cars and pass them to get into the left-turn lane.”
Ott asked if the commission wanted to come up with the fix that seemed the most appropriate and get working on it. Beam said he’d talk with Ott later about it.
Grubbs asked if the suggestion was for broken lines there, and Ott said for a distance of about the first couple hundred feet or so before the intersection. Ott said he would sketch up a proposal and make sure that everyone agrees with it.
Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner agreed with Ott that the lanes were not laid out right. “Two, you have turn arrows but nothing says ‘turn only,’” he said, suggesting that maybe a sign is needed that says “turn only” prior to the car wash, or it could be painted on the road.
Dillon expressed some concern with how people may interpret the words “turn only” with an arrow. Ott said the use of the word “only” is not as common as it used to be with roads.
He said he believed they could improve the situation one way or another.
“Keep in mind, when we did all of this, the stacking on Parker Street, prior to them putting the two lanes that cross U.S. 30 was stacked all the way back up to that intersection,” Skinner said.
He said the biggest issue was just making sure people are aware of what people are doing. “The best solution may be just doing ‘thru turn’ there so that people know that if you’re in that lane, you’re not just turning, you could be going through, too.”
Grubbs said north of the car wash, there could be an arrow pointing straight and turning, and south of the car wash it could be right-turn only.