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City Plans Open House For Downtown Traffic Signal Changes

Staff
/
WGLT
The intersection of Front and Center streets in downtown Bloomington.

The City of Bloomington will host an open house Tuesday to get feedback on a plan to remove traffic signals and make Front Street friendlier to pedestrians.

The city is considering removal of traffic signals on Front Street at Center and Main streets, in front of the McLean County Law and Justice Center in downtown Bloomington. The idea surfaced after crews found "severely deteriorated underground traffic signal infrastructure" at Center and Front that would be costly to repair, officials said.

The proposed changes would also decrease the street width and provide a more pedestrian-friendly configuration in addition to adding green space and other streetscape elements.

Traffic has declined in the area since the 1980s, officials said. The signals were originally built in the 1940s and 1950s and have far exceeded their life expectancy, officials said.

"Feedback solicited from area stakeholders in late May was significantly in favor of removing the traffic signals," the city said in a statement.

The city tested out the new signal-free configuration last week using temporary barricades.

The public is invited to share feedback at the open house at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bloomington City Hall, before the 4 p.m. Transportation Commission meeting. You can also email traffic@cityblm.org.

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Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.
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