By Heather Lusk
Among the many road improvements that Zionsville residents will see in the future is a plan to alleviate traffic in the Village.
“We’re going through engineering on how to configure the intersection at First Street, Main Street and Sycamore,” Zionsville Mayor Tim Haak said.
While roundabouts have been eliminated as an option, town engineers are exploring other possibilities.
“We’re looking at larger, more efficient intersections and possibly extending First Street south,” he said, creating a road through the property on the south side of First Street that would curve east to connect with Main Street.
“Nothing is definitive yet,” Haak said.
Once the traffic configuration has been finalized, Haak said the town plans to sell the property at the corner of Sycamore and Main streets that was previously the location of a PNC bank. The town purchased the property in 2013 in part to maintain parking for visitors.
This project coupled with other road repaving and updates will keep drivers on alert in the next few years.
According to the 2015 Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating, more than 50 percent of Zionsville’s roads were rated “poor” while more than 80 percent were rated “fair” to “poor.”
“Our roads are not different than most communities in the state,” Haak said. “We all need help; we all need more funding from the state.”
Haak said the town has benefited recently from state grants and funds, and he plans to aggressively pursue grants in the future to “maximize those dollars.”
“There’s going to be a lot of infrastructure going on in the foreseeable future,” he said.
