Just in case you feel like there’s not enough road construction in your life, IDOT and the city are planning to upgrade the intersection of Knoxville and Prospect roads in Peoria, according to the city council agenda for Tuesday night. It looks to be rather extensive — they want to change the intersection so that people turning north onto Knoxville from Prospect can have better visibility of traffic coming from the south. New (“modernized”) traffic signals will be installed, of course.
4 thoughts on “Knoxville and Prospect intersection to be upgraded”
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Why does the city of Peoria continue to perpetuate the traffic problem in Peoria?
Why consider rebuilding the intersection of Prospect and Knoxville with new “modern” stop lights? These camera sensors obviously don’t work! (Is there really a camera in these housings or are they decoys?) Eighty thousand dollars for 3 stop lights!?!? Does the city own stock or get kickbacks from these suppliers?
Please consider MODERN ROUNDABOUTS for this intersection and the other deadly intersections in Peoria with extremely long delays. Research shows Modern Roundabouts are cheaper to install, cheaper to maintain, take up less space, are much safer, create less road rage, waste less time, waste less gasoline, and are more attractive.
Stop asking the federal government to do something about gas prices when local governments have the power to reduce fuel usage through better design. How many stop lights do we have in the city compared to the seventies when we had more residents? Why haven’t stop light timers been reduced to 30 seconds as recommended by DPZ? Why did we get rid of flashing yellow/red traffic signals after 10 or 11PM?
I understand that more gasoline wasted means more tax for Peoria; Why don’t you increase the tax amount and encourage less waste. Citizens hate the stop lights, what do visitors think? This is a quality of life issue. Improve Safety and Efficiency, Reduce pollution, reduce costs, reduce dependence on foreign oil!
It’s hard not to notice the sudden surge in the number of traffic signals in Peoria lately. Numerous signals have been added on Sterling, War Memorial, University, and many other places around Peoria. I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing the Peoria skyline picture at the top of my blog with a picture of traffic signals. It’s becoming the most prominent feature of this town….
I like roundabouts, but I get the impression traffic engineers sneer at the idea. The perfect place for a roundabout is the intersection of Knoxville and I-74 near downtown. Duany even proposed that idea.
I wrote about this practice in one of my entries at my blog – muncipalities actually benefit from more stoplights because it causes drivers to burn more fuel (stops and starts), which means they get more gas tax money.
Seriously, this isn’t a load of garabge, because in one town I lived in years ago, there was a huge battle over synchronized lights. Gas merchants successfully killed the measure because it would cost them money in gasoline sales.
Besides, has anyone else ever had a problem turning north onto Knoxville from Prospect? I know I haven’t.
I hadn’t seen that entry, Scott, but it’s a good one. Other readers can find it here. It does sound a bit conspiracy-theory-ish, but plausible.
No, I’ve never had trouble with visibility at that intersection. The only complaint I’ve had there is how long it takes for the light to change when I want to go south on Knoxville from Prospect. I think they’re doing it because IDOT is paying for it. It only costs the city a little over 2% of the total cost of “upgrading” that intersection. IDOT is doing it because Knoxville is a state route. But it’s definitely not necessary.
Another place lights are not necessary: University and I-74. As part of the “upgrade” to the interstate, they’re removing the cloverleaf interchange that required no traffic signals at all and replacing it with T intersections that require two stoplights, one on each end of the bridge. Combined with Nebraska and Columbia Terrace, there are now four stoplights within about two tenths of a mile. Ridiculous.