Peoria's rebuild of the intersection of Main & University

[bake]

Loved it

What great memories. Avantis side door pick up. Lahood's pizza. Sneaking up the fire escape to get into the varsity balcony to see American graffiti. Cruising main in the 1966 ford ranch station wagon with the wood paneling. Then on an old motorcycle my parents did not know I bought. Pony tail and tee shirt. Now I can't even grow hair on top my head.

Great times.

[tornado]

two major editorial letters have something to say about the intersection..

one just in passing...
"the misbegotten monstrosity of the Main Street and University intersection"

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140620/OPINION/140629928/10971/OPINION

and the other in depth..(caution - if you think this intersection is good for Peoria or the west bluff - do not read this guy's opinion)
If the idea was to improve pedestrian safety - then they failed to account for all the traffic barrelling down side streets and much smaller thoroughfares to go a different way and avoid this intersection.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140620/OPINION/140629925/10950/OPINION

[amckillip]

So, I don't have strong opinions on the subject, but I drive through this intersection 6-10 times a week and have zero issues. As one who studies(d) operations research fairly extensively more capacity does not always equal more capacity, and is fairly often the opposite. I have ZERO idea on the specifics of this intersection (which would be required), so I couldn't begin to have an educated opinion, but I do know as I drove through there they had pretty significant flow monitoring before the redesign about 16 months ago and I believe the primary reason for redesign was safety, not necessarily speed. I do think the intersection redesign is good for BU as it definitely makes it more pedestrian friendly and obviously makes the 'Bubble' a little bit larger. I think this is largely a case of people overreacting to something and not understanding the goal, long term implications, etc. The whole hilltop mainstreet corridor has gotten MUCH nicer since I first started calling Peoria home and I think the intersection helps that. It might be a little bit slower, but I don't think it's anything considerable (at least in my experience) and if it saves a few accidents a year, I'm going to call it a positive.

[bradleyfan124]

So, I don't have strong opinions on the subject, but I drive through this intersection 6-10 times a week and have zero issues. As one who studies(d) operations research fairly extensively more capacity does not always equal more capacity, and is fairly often the opposite. I have ZERO idea on the specifics of this intersection (which would be required), so I couldn't begin to have an educated opinion, but I do know as I drove through there they had pretty significant flow monitoring before the redesign about 16 months ago and I believe the primary reason for redesign was safety, not necessarily speed. I do think the intersection redesign is good for BU as it definitely makes it more pedestrian friendly and obviously makes the 'Bubble' a little bit larger. I think this is largely a case of people overreacting to something and not understanding the goal, long term implications, etc. The whole hilltop mainstreet corridor has gotten MUCH nicer since I first started calling Peoria home and I think the intersection helps that. It might be a little bit slower, but I don't think it's anything considerable (at least in my experience) and if it saves a few accidents a year, I'm going to call it a positive.

Is that you Twitter Jim?

[tornado]

..
The whole hilltop mainstreet corridor has gotten MUCH nicer ...

I have been frequenting the area since the mid-1960s...and lived in a house on Main St. across form the Fieldhouse while at Bradley.

I can specifically recall several accidents on Main St. or University near the campus and most were from traffic going up over the curb and hitting signs, fire hydrants, and - yes - pedestrians....
one of the most tragic of pedestrian deaths was right there on Main

http://compelledtoact.com/Tragic_listing/Spring_2008_Tragic_Listing/Hurt.htm

http://www.cinewsnow.com/news/local/16433591.html?m=y

The fact that cars barrel along Main St. both ways with sidewalks immediately beyond the curbs and students who are unfamiliar with the area is a dangerous setting.


There was once a discussion about the city buying all the properties on the north side of Main St. and then widening the street and improving curbs & sidewalks - but there was too much opposition from the homeowners even though most of those houses on the north side of Main are old, run down and are not permanent residences but just rental properties.

[amckillip]

Is that you Twitter Jim?

Haha, I don't think so...

[amckillip]

Sentence makes no sense... Should read...

...more capacity does not always equal more throughput, and is fairly often the opposite

[BUBrave28]

If anyone thinks the changes make the intersection more pedestrian friendly, I challenge you to park in Campustown and get to One World and/or Avantis. Not to mention the heavier foot-traffic intersection is the entrance to Campustown up the block between Bradley Ave. and Main St. to begin with.

You wait longer than you ever did before, drivers are confused by the intersection and making dumb decisions. It's confusing enough to the point that even the company with drawings (and I assume some logic and independent thought) painted lines in the wrong places! In the winter, do you think someone is going to stand there for 3-5 minutes waiting for the walk sign, or are they going to say screw it and play frogger, making it more dangerous for everyone?

The neighborhoods are getting much more traffic as people look for ways around the intersection, which is another thing the City was trying to avoid. They put up speedbumps, now people fly down the alleys.

When you come up the hill on MacArthur/University, there is NO sign that the right lane is going to suddently end when you pop over the top of that hill. Completely blind, and I've already seen 2 people slam on their brakes in the intersection to avoid hitting the metal reflectors they have up now.

The on-street parking is difficult because traffic is backed up to the point that you have to cut someone off or wait forever to get back into traffic.

Typical shortsightedness. Spend $100 to save $1. Fix 1 problem, create 15 more. It's just plain stupid. The idea on paper may be great (which it isn't), but seeing it in action is even further proof. Anyone that says the positives outweigh the negatives on this either haven't seen it or experienced it, are biased, or are the one of the contractors getting paid to re-do their work. The City can claim whatever the hell they want, but they can't hand me a bag of shit and claim it's rainbow sorbet.

I could have drafted a much better, functional plan myself in an eighth of the time at a hundredth of the cost. And before you blast me for saying that, go ahead and ask because I can lay out exactly what I would have done differently. The current end result is the fruit of a mish-mash of plans, that separately may have worked, but together create a giant cluster****.

Here is a very short list of what is improved:

The Main St. BU entrance is closed off to those heading west. People can't turn left from Main into the parking lot anymore. Bravo. This should have been done years ago and has absolutely nothing to do with the intersection (but it does allow for the half-mile long left turn lane line during rush hour. This forces people to the BU entrance near the bookstore, which could use a major facelift as it is now the new "storefront" of the Univeristy.

Cars don't have to sit in the left lane of traffic when making a left into Avantis off of Univeristy since the middle lane is available. But they still do.

[tornado]

another neighborhood association meeting tonight to discuss the complaints lots of people in that neighborhood are having

[sam hannam]

Has anybody heard how tonight's meeting went?

[tornado]

it is still going but there are people TWEETING LIVE FROM THE MEETING - Sounds like it is getting a little contentious

https://twitter.com/VlahosNick

a couple comments...
"Traffic cutting through Uplands has been bigger problem since Main-Univ junction reopened"
"Turn restrictions, new signs, bike lanes, speed humps could be options to calm traffic"

sounds like all the re-engineering and re-do of the intersection has caused significant undesirable things
that apparently were NOT accounted for or have totally surprised those who did the rebuild...

[tornado]

here's the newspaper coverage of the contentious meeting last night

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140710/NEWS/140719859

obviously there are differing opinions, but I once lived in that area and do occasionally go there so I guess that entitles me to an opinion...


Read what Chuck Grayeb says -- LOL -- it is absolutely insane...

the problem they have created is because they have closed so many avenues, barricaded streets, added stop signs, placed speed bumps, eliminated lanes & narrowed the corridors, etc...


NOW - look what Grayeb offers as a solution to the problem...
"We can remediate the problem.."....more speed bumps, creating more obstacles, even creating cul-de-sacs!!!!

"Remediate"??? wow - Chuck is becoming a real politician --


Their intent was to "calm" the traffic and force people to find other ways to go...
and so they have accomplished precisely that and now EVERYONE - the drivers, the city people, AND the residents - DON'T LIKE IT!
nobody likes the outcome - but if we let the very same people decide the fix - we're probably going to have an even worse situation.

Can you imagine the mess they are going to have when people start turning down streets to bypass that hideous intersection then find themselves pinned in at the end of cul-de-sacs with a long line of other cars behind them similarly trying to avoid the mess they created.

[bradleyfan124]

Speed bump??????? on a major roadway!!!!!. That would be like putting a speed bump in I-74. Here is how they can fix it. Put it back to the way it was

[BUBrave28]

Seriously, how stupid can people get?

You want to calm traffic on Main & University, so let's bottleneck traffic and force people to find alternate routes. Then, OH SHIT! People found alternate routes that we don't like. Let's block those and force them back to Main and University!! But wait Main and Univ. are bottlenecked... Use the alleys! Use the route with ongoing construction! Head 10-15 minutes out of your way and go around! Drive through the neighborhoods down the hill and around Columbia Terrace. Be sure to roll up those windows and lock those doors!

I could bash my head into a wall for 2 straight hours and come up with more logical ideas.

Here's my idea: THINK SHIT THROUGH BEFORE YOU SPEND SO MUCH MONEY ON SOMETHING YOU CAN'T EASILY PUT BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION!

This whole thing was rushed, hodge-podged, and dumb.

[tornado]

the single biggest problem - as they do seem to point out...
is people coming off I-74 and going toward campus...
as they go south on University, they hit the long line of traffic waiting to approach the Main St. intersection in question - perhaps even sitting through one or two cycles before they even get to Columbia Terrace.

so, out of frustration and perhaps even thinking they will try to help by taking an alternate way...
they take a ralph on Columbia Terr. and jog over a block or two then try to get to Main St. by heading down Elmwood or Institute...
(but of course someone like Grayeb ahs already da**ed well determined that they are not going to get away with this as now Columbia Terr. has a stop sign ever 50 feet!)

"The amount of cut-through traffic on Uplands streets appears severe at certain times of day.
Between 4 and 6 p.m. June 24, about 175 cars traversed Elmwood Avenue"

..and I would bet a number of cars even greater than that jogged over 2 or more blocks and went down Institute, Glenwood, Maplewood, & Parkside...
so we're talking one every 10-20 seconds using those narrow residential streets that often, because of parked cars, only one car at a time can maneuver slowly down.


well, these people would be far better just going down and turning right at the corner - they were never the problem - but they are caught up in the solution and now feel compelled to hurry down all those small side streets angering residents there.