The Indiana Department of Transportation is planning to repave State Road 17 through Plymouth in the near future, and one Board of Works member hopes that will mean some upgrades for the city’s intersections. Mike Delp has been calling for INDOT to add crosswalks at the intersection of Michigan and Baker Streets, after a resident complained to the board earlier this year about the difficulty of crossing Michigan Street on foot.
Delp says the repaving work potentially planned for next year would be a good opportunity to add the pedestrian crossing, “If it was 2017 it was going to get done, maybe we could talk INDOT into supplying and doing the ped signals while they’re doing other things there at Baker, it might be a way to incorporate it into that project and get it paid for.”
Plymouth Street Superintendent Jim Marquardt said he’s contacted INDOT about adding a crosswalk and hasn’t gotten a response. He also doesn’t know exactly when the paving work is set to take place.
Meanwhile, Delp also wants to make sure INDOT makes repairs to some of the other stoplights, while crews are working in Plymouth. “I get frustrated, I guess, probably because I’m a traffic signal contractor and maybe nobody else does,” he said. “But Jefferson and Michigan – it just doesn’t run efficient, that signal, does it? And it’s because they don’t keep up and keep their loops there or something in the controller, but sometimes you’ll sit there and nobody’s sitting in the left turn lane.”
Plymouth Utility Superintendent Donnie Davidson says he’s gotten notice from INDOT about utility relocation for the project, and offered to put Delp and Marquardt in contact with the project engineer.
