Traffic lights have been dark at Main and Wabash as city awaits repair
By DAVE SCHULTZ
The traffic light at the intersection of Main Street/Ind. 1 and Wabash Street in downtown Bluffton has been out for two days as of Friday night, and the status of its repair is uncertain.
Crews from Bluffton Utilities checked out the lights Thursday morning and determine that it was not a loss of power to the lights, and crews from the Indiana Department of Transportation checked them out and told city officials they’d be back — “with no explanation,” Bluffton Mayor John Whicker said Friday.
The situation has become more complicated with the installation of two temporary stop signs on Wabash Street. The signs were put in place by INDOT.
Since the general instructions for motorists have been to treat non-functioning traffic signals as a four-way stop, that has continued to be the pattern at the intersection. Traffic on Wabash Street stops at the intersection because of the signs and traffic on Main Street stops at the intersection because motorists are following the traditions of the four-way stop.
The reason INDOT hasn’t been more aggressive on repairing the light, which regulates traffic through one of Bluffton’s busiest intersections, appears to be the two-day snowstorm on Wednesday and Thursday. Mallory Duncan, the agency’s strategic communications director, said Friday afternoon that INDOT crews have been working 12-hour shifts to clear roads, a schedule that was expected to end at midnight Friday.
“I know they have a list of things to get to Saturday and Sunday,” she said.
Whicker said the city won’t put any additional traffic controls in place because Ind. 1 is a state highway and the city doesn’t want to be liable for any damages that result from anything it may do.
daves@news-banner.com
