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Bison Lane could be become a northbound one-way road if the Warsaw Common Council accepts the Traffic Safety Commission’s recommendation.
At the commission’s meeting Wednesday, Public Works Director Dustin Dillon reminded the board they had addressed Bison Lane previously multiple times as it’s came up over the years.
Recently, a resident notified him of the traffic speeds there and people driving the wrong way on the westbound one-way alley. They also reported water pooling on one section of Bison Lane to the north past the apartments where a contractor had worked on some water and sanitary sewer lines but those are still incomplete.
“And then it is currently still a two-way road, as far as the way it’s listed, although the street is 11-foot wide,” Dillon said, adding that’s what some of the concerns were.
He said they’ve looked at the storm infrastructure in there, as far as the water pooling. City engineer Kyle Alger is currently working on some updates there. Dillon said he’s talked to Street Superintendent Joe Vetor on potentially milling and maybe doing an inverse crown on that alley to keep the water centrally located.
“But we’re looking at some options there,” Dillon said. “We have added some ‘Do Not Enter’ signs at that intersection for the alley just so people do not go past Bison Lane eastbound toward Buffalo (Street) there. We’ve incorporated that there. A lot of things are in motion, but one thing to consider is potentially, do we make a recommendation to council, does it make sense at this time, until further development happens, to turn Bison Lane into a northbound one-way street from Main up to the Nye Youth Cabin?”
He said Bison Lane and the alley are much more highly traveled than one might anticipate.
Warsaw Police Department Capt. Joel Beam said he was shocked that when the road was platted it was not a one-way street. “To think of two cars going on that essential glorified alley is kind of scary, especially with that blind turn right at that intersection at the northeast corner,” he said.
Dillon said down at the other end of Bison Lane at the Nye Youth Cabin it “makes sense, gives another avenue to head north and just make a circle out to Buffalo Street.”
In talking with Vetor, he said they’re going to have Warsaw Street Department personnel get locates in and complete that roadway, once the stormwater improvements are underway.
“We are going to look at putting a curb on the corner” to help with stormwater flow, at a minimal expense with in-house crews. As for the overgrowth in the alley, Dillon said they’ll take care of that this fall.
“So, increased signage. Again, increased awareness and we’ll make some improvements as we go, but the main thing to consider is, is there a reason to maybe not recommend turning it into a one-way?” Dillon asked.
City Planner Justin Taylor said making Bison Lane a one-way northbound makes sense looking at the current situation. Typically, the east-west alley should yield to the north-south road. He asked if it would make sense to add stop signs there because of that.
Commission member Jason Brown asked if there were no stop signs at that intersection at all now. Dillon said no because they don’t have stop signs in alleys currently. He did say they’re looking at putting an additional “Do Not Enter” sign for anyone who would mistakenly head east in that alley. Dillon asked with the alley yielding to the road, would it make sense to put a yield sign up along with the “Do Not Enter” sign. Taylor said he thought that would be an appropriate use.
Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs asked if they knew of any crashes that had occurred in that area. Beam said he didn’t check but he was not aware of any. WPD Capt. Brad Kellar said he’s not received any complaints of the Bison Lane area.
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said she’s received a few complaints and agreed with making Bison Lane a one-way going north.
“I’ve tried driving down there different times, and there is more traffic than what you would actually think,” she said.
Kellar made a motion to recommend to the Warsaw Common Council Bison Lane be made into a northbound one-way road. The motion passed unanimously.
Dillon will continue working on the drainage issue with Alger.
The maximum speed limit in an alley is 15 mph.
Parker, Husky Road Work
In other business, Dillon gave the Traffic Safety Commission updates on several road projects.
A major project that started Wednesday night is part of the city’s Community Crossings Matching Grant from the state.
“The project is Parker Street. The ingress/egress from U.S. 30 up to Husky Trail right in front of Menard’s. And then it’ll be Husky Trail from the roundabout approach, moving south and then turning east onto Patterson Road and 75 North, all the way out to the four-way stop at 175 East. That is all going to receive a 4-inch structural mill, new intermediate pavement, new surface layer of pavement, along with any full-depth patching that is needed and new pavement markings,” he explained.
It’s a little over a mile of roadway being reconstructed. The current roadway is 22 years old, as far as the road in front of Menard’s.
The night work will just consist of - this week, if there aren’t any hiccups - Parker Street. The road will be closed at 9 p.m. coming off U.S. 30 and opened back up at 6 a.m. during this week of nighttime work.
The detour route for truck traffic is Old 30, over to CR 225E and back to 75N, which will get a vehicle back into the area.
Early engineering estimates for the project was almost $2 million. In the end, the project came in just under $900,000, with the city’s share of that being $432,000 due to the matching grant.
Substantial completion of the project is estimated to be Oct. 23.
“This is a road that sees over 15,000 cars a day, and that’s not just a day, that’s every day, so it is an extremely highly traveled area,” Dillon said.
The life expectancy of the road could be up to 35 years with the pavement preservation efforts the city undertakes, and Dillon said it’s tax dollars well spent, but it’ll be a little hectic out there.
“The rest of the work will be done during the day, as far as Husky Trail, Patterson Road and 75 North, so there will be some lane restrictions, there will be some flagging, there will be some slow-moving traffic. I don’t want to sugar coat it, that’s just what the facts of it are. But, the crews are going to do the best they can, we’re going to try to keep moving as much as we can, but there is going to be some backup and things going on,” Dillon concluded.
Anchorage Road
Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner said they’re hoping to have Anchorage Road back open around Oct. 25. The contract itself gives the construction company until Nov. 14 or 15.
Dillon said the section from Ind. 15 to U.S. 30 was to be milled Wednesday and paved this week, with road striping on Monday, weather permitting.
Parking Lot
As a last note, Dillon said starting this Friday, Phend & Brown will be closing down the big city parking lot at Buffalo and Jefferson streets.
They’re going to mill that parking lot. There will be some full-depth patching on Saturday, and then on Monday the parking lot will be repaved with pavement markings and stalls put back on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, the parking lot should reopen, weather permitting.
