The intersection of Main Street and Madison Avenue in Old Town Greenwood, as seen after it reopened last month. Two ordinances will change how turns work at the intersection.
Photo provided by city of Greenwood
The city of Greenwood is planning changes to how turns work at the Main and Madison intersection.
Two ordinances introduced by the Greenwood City Council Wednesday night will make changes to how left and right turns take place at the intersection of Main Street and Madison Avenue. The first makes it illegal to make left turns onto southbound Madison Avenue from westbound traffic on Main Street and illegal to make left turns from southbound Madison Avenue to eastbound Main Street, while the second would make it illegal to turn right on red at the intersection in all directions.
Any driver who violates the prohibitions could, if they are convicted, be fined up to $2,500. The city court judge could also order other, non-monetary and non-criminal penalties. This includes, but is not limited to, remedial driving training, according to city documents.
Following an amendment and two rule suspensions, the “No Left Turn” ordinance was passed through second reading unanimously in an 8-0 vote with one member absent, making it go into effect almost immediately. The “No Right Turn” ordinance still has two more readings to go through before it comes law, with the final reading likely being in December.
Both ordinances come following the completion of the reconstruction of the Main and Madison intersection, which included adding brick pavers, new traffic signals and wider sidewalks to make downtown more walkable.
The “No Left Turn” ordinance was originally only set to remove the ability to turn left onto southbound Madison Avenue from westbound Main Street. This was recommended by city engineer Mark St. John to improve east-west capacity, vehicular safety, traffic operations, safety for pedestrians and to protect and promote the public’s safety.
“In an effort to make downtown more walkable, more user-friendly, more pedestrian-friendly, to build wider sidewalks, we got rid of the westbound/southbound left turn lane,” St. John told the city council Monday night.
City council member Mike Campbell questioned St. John why the ordinance did not mention banning left turns from southbound Madison Avenue to eastbound Main Street. Not allowing left turns from southbound Madison onto eastbound Main had been discussed previously, but officials thought that traffic operated OK with it for left-bound turns, St. John said.
Campbell disagreed.
“If you’re southbound on Madison, there’s only two lanes and cars that are stopped there wanting to make a left-hand turn back up traffic as far north as Broadway,” he said.
St. John later said it was something that could be put in place. A few moments later, after city council member Linda Gibson moved to push the ordinance through on first reading, Campbell put forward an amendment banning left turns from southbound Madison Avenue to eastbound Main Street. The amendment passed unanimously, as did the final ordinance following another request for a rule suspension by Gibson.
The recent reconstruction and streetscape project is also cited in the “No Right Turn” ordinance, which makes it illegal to turn right for all directions at the Main and Madison intersection. St. John recommended the change because, with the changes to the intersection, the present buildings create sight distance issues for traffic, he said.
Additionally, there are smaller turning radii due to wider sidewalks, delayed traffic signals and the “possibility of pedestrian conflicts at that intersection,” along with protecting and promoting public safety, city documents show.
Along with making it illegal to turn right at the intersection, this ordinance would also repeal the “No turn on Red” designation for the intersection of Madison Avenue and Smith Valley Road. Since the stoplight there was replaced by a roundabout in 2018, the designation is no longer needed, St. John said.
