College students present ideas for Goshen's traffic problems

Options include one-way roads, underpasses, bypass, widening U.S. 33 or making smaller changes

By THOMAS V. BONA
Goshen News Staff Writer

Goshen resident Dennis Koehn, left, discusses one of the options for the future of U.S. 33 in the Goshen area with Ball State University urban planning students, from left, Corey Hull and Ryan Hunt after Wednesday night's presentation at the Goshen Public Library.

There was no perfect solution to the controversial U.S. 33 project presented by Ball State University urban planning students Wednesday night.

Instead, the students - who have been collecting and sorting data since visiting Goshen in February - brought together the many potential options for relieving traffic problems in Goshen and compared the proposals.

The approximately 100 residents who packed the Goshen Public Library auditorium heard groups of students outline five options - no build, widening the existing highway, one-way pairs, a north connector route and a bypass.

Scott Truex, associate professor for urban planning at BSU, compared the information the students got from government officials and from groups of residents like the Old Town Neighborhood Association to a "fruit salad" or a jigsaw puzzle.

"We can't all bring a piece to a puzzle and stick it in and expect it all to fit together (without thinking about the other pieces)," he said.

'No Build'

The first option presented was "no build," where U.S. 33 is kept on a two-lane Madison Street, but some traffic flow improvements are made.

The students in this group said that since no one can accurately predict traffic patterns for the future, existing problems - such as high traffic on neighborhood streets and jams on U.S. 33 - can be best addressed with some minor improvements.

In response to what the students saw as an alarming number of accidents on non-highway neighborhood streets - such as Fifth and Third streets - students suggested signs prohibiting non-local traffic from those streets during peak times.

Student Meena Viswanath said a "no build" option could also address congestion and safety issues on the existing highway and that this alternative has been "overlooked."

The group suggested synchronized stop lights and some "no left turn" signs along U.S. 33 to speed up traffic, reducing travel times and air pollution from idling vehicles.

Additionally, designating certain crosswalks along the highway for pedestrians to cross could control when and where people are crossing, the students added.

Viswanath noted that the "no build" option alone doesn't address the railroad tracks that cross Madison Street. However, it does cost the least of any option and doesn't destroy any existing housing, she added.

"(It is) a way to think about Goshen as a place to plan for people, as opposed to a place to plan for your cars," Viswanath said.

Madison Street Widening

The second group proposed widening Madison Street in a way that could increase pedestrian safety and aesthetic beauty along the highway.

The students presented three options for a widening that could include new trees, wider sidewalks and an underpass under the railroad tracks.

The wider highway would require the displacement of homes and businesses.

The first option would widen Madison Street along the northern edge only, increasing the highway from 30 to 45 feet and the area between the road and buildings on the north from about 36 feet to 85 feet.

The second widening plan would incorporate a center median in the above option.  The median could be tree-lined and large enough for pedestrians and bicyclists to stop on while crossing the street.

Both these options would force the relocation of 14 homes and five businesses.

The third widening option would alternate the road widening on the north and south sides to minimize the effect on existing buildings.  The road would be widened along the south side between Sixth Street and Cottage Avenue and on the north side elsewhere.

This option would force the removal of 11 homes and four businesses.

Student Becky Lehman said existing traffic would move more efficiently and safely along a widened U.S. 33.  She added that more green space, including maple trees, could reduce air and noise pollution while separating traffic from people.

By moving the sidewalks away from the road, you don’t have people right next to the cars,” Lehman said, adding that a bicycle path could fit on the north side of a widened sidewalk to connect to the existing trail at Fifth Street.

A potential railroad underpass and synchronized traffic lights would cut down on traffic tie-ups, the students also noted.

One-way Pair

Another group of students proposed running U.S. 33 through Goshen on pairs of one-way streets, a practice that has been used in several other Indiana cities.

One-way Options

Unlike the plan the Indiana Department of Transportation has looked at, which would split U.S. 33 between Madison and Jefferson streets, the students’ idea is to split traffic between Madison and Washington streets.

Both ideas suggested making Main and Third streets also one-way pairs for U.S. 33 and Ind. 15.

In the students’ proposal, northbound traffic would split off the existing U.S. 33 at 10^th Street, turn west on Washington Street and then north on Main Street along the current route.

Southbound traffic would use Third Street from Pike Street and turn east on Madison Street.  Main Street would become a two-way street south of Madison Street.

Student Ryan Hunt said this plan would reduce turning conflicts, since traffic would all be heading in the same direction, and increase the overall road capacity.  The group also proposed railroad underpasses on both Madison and Washington Streets.

Jefferson Street would remain a two-way street for local traffic only.  Hunt suggested paving it with brick or other rough material to reduce speeds and deter “cut-through” traffic.

A one-way Main Street could have three driving lanes and two parking lanes, Hunt said, with possible widened sidewalks.

 The students noted that INDOT looked unfavorably on a one-way pair proposal in a previous engineer’s report because of cost and the environmental impact of additional roads.

North Connector Route

Several proposals for a “north connector route,” which would send U.S. 33 traffic along the railroad tracks rather than through downtown, were presented by a group of students.

The proposal INDOT is looking at would have U.S. 33 go along 10^th Street from Madison Street to the railroad tracks, then parallel to the tracks until reaching Pike Street.

INDOT estimated that plan would displace 81 homes and businesses and cost approximately $16.8 million.  An overpass at the intersection with Lincoln Avenue (Ind. 4) would cost an additional $8.3 million.

The students proposed an alternative that would run U.S. 33 north near the high school baseball field, curving slightly until it reached the railroad tracks.  They said this plan would move the traffic away from the north side of the high school.

The group added that the unused land along the new road could be used to replace removed buildings, add park area or make room for high school facility projects.

At Lincoln Avenue, the students said, there could either be an underpass or a regular intersection.

Another alternative they presented would be to have the north connector turn into town at Lincoln Avenue rather than plowing along the railroad tracks all the way to Pike Street.

They added that the Lincoln Avenue option, while costing less in building relocation, would not take traffic away from downtown.

The group also suggested creating a pedestrian path along U.S. 33 that could possibly include a pedestrian underpass where the north connector route would curve.

Bypass

The final group of students talked about four options for a U.S. 33 bypass to the south of Goshen.

Student Lynette Boswell said they were working with the assumptions that C.R. 17 will be upgraded, that a bypass would be a growth management tool for Goshen and that it would absorb industrial traffic from both U.S. 33 and Ind. 15.

The first two alternatives would widen existing roads—(C.R. 38 (Kercher Road) and C.R. 40.

The C.R. 38 proposal, the northernmost option, would go just south of the industrial park and affect 38 houses.  It would be the shortest and straightest route from U.S. 33 to C.R. 17, which students said could take traffic north to Elkhart and the Indiana Toll Road.

The C.R. 40 proposal would affect Waterford Mills and would displace 37 homes.  It would be a longer, winding route that could move to displace fewer homes, they said.  It would affect the least amount of farmland.

The other alternatives would create new limited access bypasses near the Goshen Municipal Airport.

The northern proposal, which would go between C.R. 40 and the airport, cuts through Waterford Mills and would displace 14 homes.  It could serve as a border between New Paris and Goshen future growth, the group said.  It would also cut through about 80 acres of farmland.

The southern proposal, between the airport and New Paris, would affect the fewest homes—seven—but the most farmland—101 acres.  It would use some existing roads and new roads and it would be the longest bypass route.

The students said they believed any of these options would reduce the truck traffic through Goshen, but that county residents might be concerned with the impact on farmland and forest/wetland areas.

After the presentations, Truex said the students’ findings will be put on the deparment’s Web site next week at www.bsu.edu/cbp.

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