Kristi Brummett was concerned about the accidents and near-misses happening in front of her home. So she did something about it.
Brummett tracked down contact information for the Indiana Department of Transportation and asked the agency to look into the traffic conditions on State Road 46 East in front of Forest Hills Apartments.
She was motivated to do something in June after a local 9-year-old had to be flown from the scene of a crash at this exact intersection on May 30. The driver of the vehicle that was rear-ended was trying to turn into Forest Hills from the eastbound lane (coming from the direction of Nashville).
“Something has to be done,” Brummett said. She has a 7-year-old, and she said that many times she’s held her breath as she watched a car come up behind her quickly while she was trying to turn.
There is no turning lane for Forest Hills on eastbound 46, but there’s a place where drivers can pull onto the shoulder and turn from westbound 46, she said.
Brummett asked INDOT to look at adding an eastbound turning lane, reducing speeds and/or adding a caution light.
INDOT’s customer service department wrote back to her on Aug. 26 and said that an INDOT engineer had reviewed the intersection of Forest Hills Drive and 46 East, and that the plan is to stripe an eastbound passing blister.
A “passing blister” allows through traffic to pass stopped vehicles that are waiting to turn left at a “T” intersection, INDOT explained in an email to The Democrat.
The restriping was to be done today (Sept. 3).
As to why the caution light and speed limit reduction weren’t approved: “Because this section of road is rural and relatively straight, it was determined that neither lowering the speed limit and/or a flashing beacon would not be effective and that a passing blister would be a better alternative to reduce the risk of rear-end crashes at this location,” INDOT responded through spokesman Natalie Garrett.
