Monday, May 2, 2011

Meeting Thursday about next year's Clinton Street closure

The Downtown Improvement District and the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce invite all downtown property owners, businesses and interested members of the public to a public meeting to be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce Building at 826 Ewing Street at the corner of Ewing and Wayne.

The purpose is to outline a bridge replacement and road alignment project which will close Clinton Street southbound from State Boulevard, for a period of at least six months, beginning April 1, 2012.

The meeting will provide information on the background and reasons for the project and will allow opportunities for comment on traffic and other impacts. Strategies to address southbound traffic detours into and through downtown will be discussed.
The public has been invited by INDOT to comment on the proposed plan. The comment period will extend until Friday, May 13. Click for an online comment form provided by INDOT.

A fact sheet prepared by the Downtown Improvement District can be accessed online by clicking here.

A summary of the Downtown Improvement District's research into the origins, proposed timetable, and other aspects of the Clinton St / Spy Run Creek Bridge project follows. Please note that these two projects are included in INDOT's 2012-2015 Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan. INDOT is encouraging public comments to the plan through Friday, May 13.

  • On its current timetable, INDOT proposes to close Clinton Street at State Boulevard for a period of at least 6 months, estimated to begin April 1, 2012.
  • INDOT has determined there is no economical proposal or design alternative to allow a restricted one- to two- lane area of southbound traffic to continue along Clinton Street through the work zone during the reconstruction of the Spy Run Creek bridge.
  • A daily average of 22,500 vehicles pass southward through the intersection of Clinton St and State Boulevard. This represents 17% of all traffic into Downtown Fort Wayne, according to the Northeast Indiana Regional Coordinating Council (NIRCC). About half of the daily average is estimated to consist of work-related travel for downtown employees.
  • The current bridge deck is located within the 100-year flood level for the Creek. When the bridge is rebuilt, the new deck will be constructed above the floodplain level within which the current deck is located.
  • All through traffic headed southward on US 27 will be diverted onto the official INDOT detour at Coliseum Boulevard (SR 930), diverting east and south on Coliseum until it reaches Washington Boulevard. From Washington Boulevard, the official detour will return US 27 traffic to Clinton Street southbound.
  • It is not expected that truck traffic will be prohibited from proceeding southbound on Clinton from Coliseum Boulevard.
  • Traffic arriving at the intersection of State Boulevard will be diverted either east or west. From that point, the most direct route to downtown will be along State Boulevard to Wells Street, then southbound along Wells / Fairfield into downtown.
  • Traffic diverting eastbound from State Boulevard and Clinton, can access St Joseph Boulevard into downtown via Parnell southbound, to the Columbia Avenue Bridge into downtown. {Portions of this route are not intended for truck traffic}.
  • In 2010 there were an estimated 19,082 employees working downtown in 834 businesses {ESRI report for Downtown Improvement District, October 2010}.
  • In 2010, based on reports from the Indiana Department of Revenue, downtown (represented by the 46802 zip code) generated $174.04 million in taxable retail, restaurant, and hospitality sales. This was up 3.1% from 2009.
  • The Clinton St / Spy Run Creek Bridge and roadway re-alignment projects are contained in the 2012 - 2015 State Transportation Improvement Plan, which can be viewed at www.downtownfortwayne.com.
  • Comments to the 2012-2015 Plan can be submitted by the public through Friday, May 13, 2011. INDOT encourages on-line submission via this web link.

Please send a copy of your comments to christy@downtownfortwayne.com.

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