Traffic trouble ahead: Motorists using Smokey Row Road face delays, risks
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Traffic on Smokey Row Road has increased while Whiteland Road remains under construction Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, in Bargersville, Indiana. STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON/sroberson@dailyjournal.net
The car slowly inches forward, part of a line of vehicles.
The driver notices a small break, and the car lunges forward, across two lanes of a busy Center Grove area road. That car made it, but motorists are concerned about what will happen when someone doesn’t make it across the intersection.
An already busy Smokey Row Road has gotten more traffic due to construction on Whiteland Road. And now the two-way stop at State Road 135 has become a daily backup spot as drivers try to make it across the highway.
The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to start work to add a stoplight and turn lanes at the intersection in November 2013, but some motorists who use Smokey Row Road regularly wonder why the traffic signal wasn’t put in before construction on Whiteland Road began.
Michael Mascari lives in Greenwood and crosses the intersection daily. He saw traffic backups on Smokey Row Road before Whiteland Road was closed; but now that more people are using Smokey Row Road as an official detour, the backups are even worse.
“There was a lot of congestion there to begin with. Now there’s double the amount,” Mascari said.
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