Pantagraph.com | News | Bloomington may annex for stoplight on Towanda Barnes

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

B-town~~ wrote on Oct 12, 2007 7:40 PM:

" needs to expand, it will bring in more tax $ and it's needed to pay for the precious collesium, and for all the Chi-town peeps that they kicked out. Thanks, Judy!! :( "

If it's needed~~ wrote on Oct 12, 2007 7:36 PM:

" Do it. My word, nothing is going stop the develpoment of B-town, and if it's for the safety of our families, then they need to quit whining and do it already. "

Sam Woody wrote on Oct 12, 2007 6:18 PM:

" Reconnect Oakland Avenue under the runway in an underpass tunnel like it should have been done in the first place. There are very few streets that go all the way thru town. I never understood the logic of truncating Oakland, a major arterial route, in the first place, especially with the growth forecast for the east side. "

LJLC Parent wrote on Oct 12, 2007 1:01 PM:

" I am also a parent of a Little Jewels child and making a left turn during the morning or evening traffic can be next to impossible on most days. I too often turn right and go the other direction because it is not safe to cross that intersection. People who use this intersection on a REGULAR basis know that it is unsafe! To answer the question of what is out there: a daycare, a church, a pizza place, a pet store, a gymnastics center, and a movie theater. What do all of these things have in common? They are all frequented by children and families! If/when there is a traffic fatality in the intersection, involving one of those families, the first thing people will say is, "Why wasn't there a stoplight there?!!" The issue isn't about adding more stoplights into the community to inconvience the masses, it is about safety and correcting the problems that have arisen with the growth of the area. Our children's safety shouldn't be the township's political football to get what they want/need for a subdivision that has nothing to do with this unsafe intersection. "

PK wrote on Oct 12, 2007 12:38 PM:

" On the topic of stoplights, I agree that something should be done about the timing of lights on Veterans Parkway. Main Street is timed perfectly. Veterans is just horrible. Please fix it! Please! "

SARGE wrote on Oct 12, 2007 12:21 PM:

" I was born and raised in B/N but no longer live there. Evrytime I come home on leave to visit the fam, it seems like my 8 hr trip turns into 10. It seems the more the population goes up so do more lights/signs. But I am proud to be from there. "

Perfect solution!! wrote on Oct 12, 2007 12:02 PM:

" Here is an idea Bloomington. Re-develope with in Bloomington, quit expanding out!!! There are plenty of places to build homes, businesses, etc within bloomington. Offer tax breaks, help with reconstruction, or whatever. Just encourage business to quite building past the old city borders. Then you wouldnt have to fight county townships for land or lights!!!! "

Not going wrote on Oct 12, 2007 11:05 AM:

" to be happy until this town takes a half hour to get across from one end to the other. Main street (from north to south) takes around 25 mintues now. I noticed that they put another stop light in on macarthur. I end up just taking side streets anymore, main and veterans are a joke. They act like this town is chicago or something. "

what are you crying about? wrote on Oct 12, 2007 10:03 AM:

" As if we had horrible traffic in this town or something. "

Can't drive 55 wrote on Oct 12, 2007 9:25 AM:

" So here's an idea... synch the lights on Veterans first, then think about a light out on Towanda Barnes. If Veterans wasn't all hurry up and get to the next yellow light, more people would use it. I'm not for more lights on TB.. in fact I don't understand why there are any 45 mph zones there at all. It's a 4 lane rural road with a turn lane for heaven's sake! Oh wait.. that's right.. it's a speed trap. Just learn to drive and have some patience getting out on the road and it'll be fine. "

Realistic wrote on Oct 12, 2007 9:14 AM:

" Yes, T-B is going to be the next Veterans Parkway some day. The Bloomington area is prosperous and growing. Look at the traffic out there already, and you'll see why it is time to think about stoplights and maybe even an east side highway nearby (a freeway without stoplights) so that people can get places faster. Good planning means doing this before the area gets fully developed; think about what we'd have today if Veterans Parkway had been designed as a freeway. It's hard to imagine how traffic will continue to increase, requiring planning way ahead. Many of the thoughts from posters here don't make much sense, such as taking away stoplights to make roads less congested, and Bloomington putting up stoplights at Towanda and Beech, which is in Normal. "

Bloomington Driver wrote on Oct 12, 2007 9:08 AM:

" I can understand the purpose of a stoplight at Oakland and Towanda Barnes. Just up the road is the Palace Theater, and turning left out of there after a show can be nearly impossible with traffic coming from both directions at 55 miles an hour...especially at night. There aren't too many businesses on that dead-end stretch of Oakland yet, and a better place might have been at Detroit Drive and Oakland (where the theater actually is), but any traffic light near there will be helpful since there isn't a light or sign between Ireland Grove and Empire/Route 9. The city should also be looking into stoplights in replacement of signs at other intersections as well besides the already recommended Hershey/College (Mercer/Oakland and Fort Jesse/Airport for example). "

Parent of child at the day care wrote on Oct 12, 2007 8:49 AM:

" I am a parent of a child that attends the day care there off of Oakland and Towanda Barnes Road. The issue with that intersection is making turns out of there, especially left turns. Times of day, such as 3:45 and later, traffic becomes heavier in both directions and also because the speed there is 55 mph, the turns becomes risky. There have been times I decided to turn right and go around even though it was out of my way but I felt it was safer to do so. I don't like extra lights either but sometimes they are necessary. "

m wrote on Oct 12, 2007 8:46 AM:

" We just moved from B-N and I MISS the streets there. We moved to a community that is growing as quickly as B-N but without roads and infrastructure. My commute is almost all 2 lane roads. It takes 25 minutes to get to work for the 7 mile drive. B-N really does have a handle on preparing roads for growth, stick with it, trust me there is much worse! "

heard wrote on Oct 12, 2007 8:45 AM:

" i once heard that a town gets more tax dollars for each stop light installed . "

another signal? wrote on Oct 12, 2007 8:42 AM:

" And a gymnastics center. At certain times of day and night, it is really hard to turn left there over many lanes of traffic but do we really need another signal? There is a flashing red and flashing yellow further north where Towanda Barnes intersects with Raab near NCHS. Is that caution working? Granted it's only a two lane there........ I'm with "good grief", will they put a light at every new intersection that is built in the future out there? Northbound cars that are familiar with that intersection could move to the right lane to help the Oakland Ave people get out. Try a little courtesy. "

al wrote on Oct 12, 2007 6:29 AM:

" whats back there is a day care ( owned by the wife of the guy who owns mc donalds) and a pizza place and game time gym. nothing of major importance, but big contributors to the city of bloomington in one way or another. "

we wont that wrote on Oct 11, 2007 11:28 PM:

" we don't want that so tuff luck!!!!!! "

stupid wrote on Oct 11, 2007 11:05 PM:

" sure they can put a stop light there and solve that problem but that wont put one up on college and beech were and accident happens everyday or even hershey and college that gets backed up, way to go B/N govt ur really thinkin for everyones safety "

why? wrote on Oct 11, 2007 10:21 PM:

" Some big wig must have had to go left on towanda barnes towards rt 9 from oakland and had to wait for a few min because traffic was heavy.......maybe stressed out ATC controllers Whats even back there ?????no need for a major pissin contest "

DO IT wrote on Oct 11, 2007 10:10 PM:

" You should totally put that light up there! "

Meh wrote on Oct 11, 2007 10:00 PM:

" I'm with "good grief". The last thing Bloomington needs is another Veteran's Pkwy with 20 ill timed stop lights. Lets do Towanda Barnes right with Frontage roads and leave the stoplights as they are. "

splash wrote on Oct 11, 2007 7:54 PM:

" Glad to see the township stand up to the city and not just let them try and run things out here in the country. I hate driving in Bloomington. "

..::mizer::.. wrote on Oct 11, 2007 7:07 PM:

" To: good grief; um....thats what happens when cities grow!!! "

Why don't they wrote on Oct 11, 2007 6:12 PM:

" just put signal lights up at every intersection and be done with it. I hate driving in B/N. The streets are riddled with signal lights and stop signs everywhere. What both towns need are traffic engineers to start removing lights and stop signs and make some of the more traveled streets less congestive with traffic control along with a whole lot of no left turn options. "

good grief wrote on Oct 11, 2007 6:09 PM:

" Towanda Barnes Road is turning into the next Veterans Parkway. "

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