Two-way Spring Street Corridor

Since I am a roadway engineer and someone that lives on Spring St., I have great interest in the possibility of changing the Spring St. corridor to two-way traffic. Just by experience, I think that the traffic on Market St. and Elm St. could function in a two way system; however, I think Spring St. could not function with only one lane of traffic in each direction.

While I think the idea of having one lane in each direction, parking lanes, bike lanes and an island median would make the area look nicer, I think that the traffic will become a nightmare. The traffic on the existing road is heavy during rush hour and would become unbearable if the traffic was one lane in each direction. Also, I think the amount of traffic going eastbound on Spring St. would also be significant considering the number of people wanting to cut over to Clarksville and Jeffersonville.

I asked the traffic engineer in our office for his opinion. He has been doing traffic design work for 40+ years and he can look at something and know how it will function without calculations and tell you how a road or intersection will function. He told me what I thought to be true. Elm St. and Market St. would work with two way traffic; however, Spring St. would become a disaster. If I can get some traffic counts from whatever study the mayor used for his proposal, I could give you a better idea.

Another unfortunate side effect of putting an island in Spring St. would be removing a wide corridor that works very well for parades. That means that the Harvest Homecoming Parade route would change. I would be very upset if the parade route changes because that is one of my favorite perks of living on Spring St.--the parade route.

I would suggest any people that are supporting this proposal to think beyond the looks. Spring St. would become a nightmare to navigate, and I am sure any self-respecting mayor, city council or citizen would not want to create a problem rather than solving one.