<p><strong>M</strong>ore than 130 Greenwood business owners, workers and residents are asking the city for help after a road project has caused traffic issues.</p>
<p>They say construction along Emerson Avenue is hurting business and making traffic a nightmare.</p>
<p>Their request: A new stoplight at the intersection of Sayre Drive and Emerson Avenue.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>But whether that will happen is unclear, and one city official said a traffic light may be more likely at another nearby intersection, about a quarter-mile away.</p>
<p>The city is in the process of rebuilding Emerson Avenue between Main Street and County Line Road, a $3.5 million project that isn’t expected to last too much longer. The project removed a turn lane at Sayre Drive, and added a concrete median.</p>
<p>Business owners say taking out that turn lane has caused significant backups during rush hours, and has made it much harder for large trucks to get in and out of parking lots in this industrial area.</p>
<p>Mark’s Vacuum been in business for 23 years and they have dealt with a lot of construction as Greenwood continues to grow, but nothing that has had this big an impact, said owner Mark Cleary, who gathered 130 signatures on a petition that he gave to the city council, asking for a new stoplight at Sayre Drive.</p>
<p>“There are a lot of businesses in this industrial park. If you were to come out at 4:30 or 5 o’clock in the evening, traffic is backed up all the way around the corner,” Cleary said.</p>
<p>“(Several cars) used to be able to merge into that turn lane. Now, maybe one car at a time gets out.”</p>
<p>Kids Kingdom Day Care, which opened last fall, is located near the industrial park along Emerson Avenue. Parents typically pick up their kids during rush hour, which significantly adds to traffic in the area, Cleary said. The owner of the daycare declined to comment.</p>
<p>The median has made it so that employees, customers and families leaving the industrial park can only make right turns. As a result, several cars are making U-turns, which isn’t safe, said John Cleary, who also works at Mark’s Vacuum and lives in the area.</p>
<p>“By removing that center lane, during peak times, you’ve taken out the only way we have to get in and out of there. If you were to come down there at 5 o’clock at night, you would see that Sayre Drive is backed up all the way to the airport. We need to add a stop light before somebody gets hurt,” John Cleary told city council members earlier this month.</p>
<p>Business owners and area employees who signed the petition think a stoplight in the area would improve traffic flow during those peak times, including after construction is finished.</p>
<p>“I understand it is construction and this is just part of it. But even after the construction is done, people aren’t going to want to come here if they have to wait 15 minutes to get out,” Mark Cleary said.</p>
<p>Semi truck drivers are also having a hard time getting in and out of the area.</p>
<p>Gene Dean, who manages Elite Crete of Indiana, another business in the area, said he has several trucks that need to get in and out everyday.</p>
<p>“It is becoming very, very difficult for these people to get in and out,” Dean said. “It’s very congested.”</p>
<p>City officials are considering the issue.</p>
<p>Capital Projects Manager Kevin Steinmetz told members of the city redevelopment commission that city engineers had reviewed the request for a stoplight, but aren’t sure a light is needed there.</p>
<p>City planners are instead considering a stoplight at Emerson Avenue and Emerson Parkway, just north of Sayre Drive, because it has traffic flow on both sides of Emerson Avenue, he said.</p>
<p>“Sayre just comes up on one side. Sayre also has traffic that is highly variable,” Steinmetz said.</p>
<p>“We’re going to keep an eye on it as Emerson continues to build out, traffic wise. But in general, we actually have a true intersection with a road going both ways that may warrant, from the engineering department, a quicker signal, if it ever does. With signals, there is kind of a science to it.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="At a glance" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at construction work on Emerson Avenue:</p>
<p>Where: Emerson Avenue between Main Street and County Line Road</p>
<p>What: Repaving the street, rebuilding portions of the center turn lane with grass medians, replacing hanging stoplights with decorative ones at three intersections and installing decorative lighting. A trail is planned in the future.</p>
<p>Cost: $3.5 million</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
