Footprints

by Budd Glassberg

Reprinted with permission from the Zionsville Times Sentinel on January 16, 2008

Zionsville’s Main (Street) Problem

It is a scary proposition. Traveling in downtown Zionsville on Cedar Street and attempting to cross Main Street during either the morning or afternoon commutes is an adventure I would gladly forego. More than half the time, when heading west on Cedar, there is a large SUV parked parallel on the northeast corner of Main making it nearly impossible to see traffic barreling from the north. You cannot tell if it is safe to cross unless you pull into the intersection. That makes you vulnerable to take a hit from the south. The same is true for all of the east/west streets that cross Main Street (the Christmas tree in the middle of the Oak Street intersection only adds to the excitement).

The town had attempted to dissuade drivers from using the brick street as a north/south artery for commuting purposes hoping they might take First Street instead. The speed limit on Main Street was reduced to 15 mph. I recollect that the town was forced to increase the speed limit for legal reasons, but the experiment was not effective even at the lower speed limit due to the difficulty of enforcing it. Nothing changed.

If the town were to put up four way stops at Pine, Oak and Cedar Street intersections on Main Street, it would be an effective way to slow down traffic on Main. The three additional stops would discourage commuters from using Main Street thereby allowing downtown shoppers to more easily get in and out of their parking spaces. It would slow down traffic in an area where pedestrians are numerous and provide a safer environment for those visiting our town.

Over the past couple of years, the town has made changes to attempt to provide more parking for downtown shoppers. Making the streets one-way and changing parallel parking on our east/west streets to angle parking added several extra parking spaces. Angled parking on both sides of Cedar Street then left too little room in the middle of the road, especially after a snowfall when parked cars could not pull all the way up to the curb. This fall, Cedar Street was closed for a day and changed back to a two-way street. On the south side of the street between Main and Elm, angled parking remained (with the angles reversed). On the north side of the street, black paint had been thinly brushed over the white painted angled parking and new parallel parking spaces were painted in white. The white paint from the angle parking is still visible through the black paint and provides more than a little confusion. I work at Cedar and Elm and get a chuckle every day to see the pattern of parking on the north side of Cedar Street. Some cars park on an angle, some are parallel and there does not seem to be any consensus among the drivers. Perhaps another coat of black paint on the angle spaces is in order.

The problems mentioned above are minor and most likely inconvenience very few people. The joy I get from living in Zionsville and working in its downtown is not diminished by these little annoyances. Most days I walk to and from work, so self-interest in these suggestions is secondary to the interest of making downtown more accessible. I am not a town planner, nor do I play one on television. There may be very good reasons why these recommendations are not plausible. Still, often those who observe a situation on a daily basis are able to see simple solutions to problems that others may overlook.

Budd Glassberg lives and works in Zionsville and is a 23 year resident of the community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.