Turn Lane at Second and Church?

If you’ve ever been stuck on Second Street at the Church Street intersection and thought, “They need to put a turn lane here,” the township hears you.

Following up on a study performed last year by a traffic engineer, the township is looking into whether it would be feasible to add a right- or (much less likely) left-turn lane on West Second in front of the municipal complex to alleviate the frequent gridlock.

“We have what most would characterize as a significant traffic problem on Second,” said township manager Scott Carew at Monday's council meeting.

The township owns the right-of-way directly in front of the library, so it could cut into that area to create an additional lane.

However, the results of the study showed the inclusion of a right-turn lane on the library side of West Second would only yield a “marginal improvement” in the flow of traffic, said township engineer Jim Ruddiman—primarily because most of the gridlock occurs on Church.

“It would diminish the benefits of putting in that right-turn lane,” he said.

Likewise, adding a left-turn lane at the intersection would create even greater problems, according to Ruddiman, because it would require an “offsetting traffic movement” on the opposite side of West Second, i.e. another left-turn lane.

Since the township doesn’t own the right-of-ways on the opposite side, and the properties there come “right up to the road,” it would be nigh impossible to add another lane, Ruddiman said. “There’s really no room to widen the road.”

Ruddiman estimated the cost of making any of the aforementioned improvements would be about $172,000.

Still, the ball is in council’s court—though don’t expect them to do anything with it in the immediate future.

“Everybody wants to do something. I’ve gotten caught in that traffic myself several times,” said Mayor Stacey Jordan. “It’s just a matter of figuring out what we can do and whether there’s anything we can do.”

Jordan admitted, based on the information currently in front of council, the addition of either turn lane doesn’t seem feasible. She added that council will “put our heads together” to search for an alternative solution.

What do you think? Would a turn lane improve the gridlock at Second and Church? Or should the township just leave it alone? Tell us in the comments below.