By Sophie Pappas
One Friday afternoon, a staff member from Current in Zionsville stood at the entrance of Bub’s Burgers on South Main Street. Within 15 minutes, six people tried to cross the street while oncoming traffic was trying to pass. Two of the people crossing were holding the hands of children.
Is this dangerous? For many in Zionsville, that answer is an unequivocal yes.
“Somebody is going to get killed,” said Tom Santelli, a Zionsville resident and a candidate for the Boone County Council in this year’s primary election. “It’s not safe.”
With more than 40 percent of the Bub’s Burgers parking lot taken over by construction materials for the newly developed strip mall, along with the ever-present snow piles from this winter, parking spaces for Bud’s are hard to find.
This has caused many of Bud’s patrons to park in spaces across the street, such as in the parking lot of Peace Through Yoga Studios.
This safety hazard has led many to wonder what will be done to protect pedestrians.
What will be done?
Site developer, Bob Harris, was granted $650,000 to complete the South Main Street development and provide adequate parking and streetlights. Harris made an agreement with the town, which indicated that the hours of operation for the yet-to-be-completed shops are not expected to interfere with the dinner rush for Bub’s.
Thus, there should be enough parking on-site for all customers. For town planners, remedying this issue is high on the priority list.
“I know there will likely be a recommendation of a light at 106th and South Main Street,” stated Zionsville Town Council president, Jeff Papa.
Current in Zionsville contacted the Zionsville Street Dept. Superintendent, Lance Lantz regarding this issue.
The town released a statement on his behalf, which read: “The town, through its Economic Redevelopment Commission, is planning an intersection improvement project at 106th Street and Main Street [this year]. As a part of that, a crosswalk is contemplated at the intersection, which is the most appropriate location for a crosswalk. A mid-block, or non-intersection crosswalk is only an absolute last resort, and given the imminent intersection improvements I cannot responsibly advocate for a crosswalk in any location other than at the pending signalized intersection.”
Additionally, the statement declares that the public streetlights, which would increase the level of safety for walkers, are currently not operational on either side of the street because Harris was permitted to relocate two of them to accommodate the new on-street parking. One of them was destroyed during construction; the other has yet to be relocated.
Beyond the two lights that have been removed temporarily for construction, the three remaining public streetlights have been deactivated on either side of the road due to construction as well. Once both the east and west projects are complete, there is expected to be on-site lighting.
The town will consider the following options to increase the safety on South Main:
- Crosswalks
- Streetlights
- Stop light
