Bypass widening could be beneficial

A line of cars stretches for at least a mile. Drivers angrily honk and swerve in and out of lanes and struggle to accomplish the daunting task of turning left across a crowded intersection.\nWhat may sound like a description of the rush hour in a big city accurately portrays 10th Street and the 45/46 bypass during weeknight rush hours, and sometimes mornings as well. And it's even worse on athletics game days, Little 500 weekend, freshman move-in day and graduation weekend. \nAccording to several locals, the plan to widen 10th Street and the 45/46 bypass has been in the works for years but would still be a welcomed improvement.\nLast week, Gov. Mitch Daniels declared that Monroe County will pocket $58.5 million from the "Major Moves" change purse to put towards roadway projects, including the widening of 10th Street from the bypass intersection to Russell Road and the expansion of the 45/46 bypass from Third to North Walnut streets. The 10th Street project is now scheduled to start in 2008 and the bypass project will commence in 2009.\nWhile they're not getting their hopes up too high yet, local officials were quick to speak of the positive effects a renovation would have on the traffic situation.\n"The bypass, as well as the 10th Street intersection, are very busy thoroughfares and any relief offered by expansion will be beneficial to all who use it," Bloomington Police Department Capt. Joe Qualters said.\nIU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger echoed Qualters' statement. He said the streets are not wide enough and don't have enough lanes to keep traffic moving, which is why it's often "bumper to bumper" during rush hours. He also expressed the woes of the game-day traffic regulation efforts the department makes every year.\n"Right now during games we have to turn the bypass into different lanes using cones," Minger said. "We often have to tell people to totally avoid that area during games because it does become highly congested."\nBloomington Transit is excited at the possibility of wider roads as well. Joe Lilly, operations manager of BT, said that wider lanes make for better traffic flow, which could potentially allow buses to stay on time more often, especially during rush hour traffic. He said that while BT doesn't have any special changes to service they would make in response to the road project, he and his crew would try to get the state to add extra bus lanes, especially in front of the apartment complexes on 10th Street.\nThough he would be "very happy" if the roads were widened, he said that with all of the times the project has been discussed and put off, he wouldn't be surprised if it were pushed back again.\n"I'll believe it when I see it," he said. "Hopefully it'll get done eventually with all of the need. It's a long time coming with the way the people have been moving out to the east side. (Expansion) will help our buses move quicker and get people where they want to go in a more timely manner."\nLilly said that buses would do their best to stay on schedule during the construction period. He said that if they need to add buses or devise new routes they would know within 90 days of construction and would have ample time to plan.\n"Those are our two heaviest routes, so that area will be serviced," Lilly said. "It might take more time, but we'll just have get more buses. We'd do anything we could to keep (the buses) as regular as possible."\nIn addition to improving traffic flow and possibly helping the punctuality of local buses, the expansion of 10th Street and the 45/46 bypass might make the area a much safer place to travel. Qualters thinks that an expansion would reduce accidents because it would help people "make a more efficient use of the roadway," or as Minger says, more turn lanes and travel lanes will enable people to move from lane to lane more easily.\n"It's something that we've looked for for years," Minger said.