The Carmel City Council recently considered the issue of removing a controversial stop sign at 126th Street and Auman Drive. The removal effort failed with a 3-4 vote but it was later decided to revive the bill and stick in committee so another solution can be determined.
At least five of the seven city councilors say they would like to see something else go in place. Here’s a look at the options.
DON’T DO ANYTHING – City Councilor Sue Finkam, sponsor of the bill, said if the stop sign is removed that nothing else needs to be put in its placed. She’s backed up by City Councilor Ron Carter, City Engineer Jeremy Kashman and Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard.
“There’s only one option recommended by the city engineer and he’s a trained expert and that is to remove the stop sign,” Brainard said.
City Councilor Luci Snyder said the heavy traffic volume on 126th Street means she disagrees with the idea that just pulling the sign is a solution.
“Nobody in their right mind can say that’s an ordinary street,” she said.
TRAFFIC LIGHT or PEDESTRIAN CROSSWALK – Although these are technically two different things, they both use the idea of calming traffic through a timed device. The idea is that the traffic light would stay green the majority of the day for east-west traffic.
“I don’t think an on-demand light would be much of a burden to motorists,” Snyder said.
Kashman said it could cost around $150,000. He said most of the traffic signals in Carmel are “on-demand” but usually the volume is generally equal going both ways. He doesn’t support this idea.
“It’s not warranted for a stop sign, so it’s not warranted for a traffic signal,” he said. “So that’s the concern that I have.”
ROUNDABOUT – If nothing can get residents to completely stop, some city councilors feel there’s a need to slow traffic down with “traffic calming devices” like a roundabout. Installing a roundabout though can cost around half a million dollars and sometimes property needs to be purchased to complete construction. Kashman said the actual Auman Drive intersection has been discussed in the past but he doesn’t think it’s a good candidate due to low traffic volume coming out of Auman. He said it would be better to construct one further east, say at Kinser Avenue. If that were to occur, then residents who wish to turn left out of Auman Drive could now turn right easily and then make a U-turn at the roundabout to head west of 126th Street.
Rick Smith, a resident who lives nearby and supports the pedestrian crossing idea, said he thinks a roundabout is overkill and would take too long to construct.
“That’s like building a train when a bus will do,” he said.
WIDENING ROADS – City Council President Rick Sharp said one option he think should be considered is widening 126th Street to handle more traffic since it’s becoming a popular road to take since The Carmel City Center and The Palladium opened.
“It seems to me that road should be four lanes all the way to Keystone,” he said. “It’s a major thoroughfare and it’s going to carry even more traffic than it does now and how do you do that without more lanes?”
Of course, widening the road could take some time and could cost millions. Kashman said it’s a separate debate.
“The widening of 126th Street or the reconstruction is a completely different issue than the stop sign,” he said. “Our recommendation in the future would be two-lane parkway with two sixteen foot lane and a center median that we would landscape. That would be sufficient for traffic between Range Line and Keystone.”
