Steps are being taken to address issues with the intersection at State Road 46 East and the Brown County State Park north gate entrance, but it could take more than five years before physical changes are made.

Representatives with Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) met with Nashville Town Council and local law enforcement on Aug. 25 to evaluate concerns regarding the intersection.

INDOT Traffic Engineer Damon Brown said the department has been evaluating the intersection and is aware of concerns about congestion, especially in the fall.

Brown said that throughout the entire year, INDOT has been working with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department to confirm crash reports.

He also said INDOT is evaluating different models for a solution, including adding signaled turn lanes or a roundabout.

The top alternative at this point is a roundabout, he said.

“We would want to do more than just put in signals there because of lane geometrics,” he said.

A roundabout is a circular intersection or junction in which road traffic flows almost continuously in one direction around a central island.

Brown said a light signal and turn lanes would cost about $1.6 million and a roundabout would cost about $3.2 million.

“That is the total cost,” he said. “It will score well. I am predicting in 2028 it would go through.”

In either alternative, plans would incorporate Eagle Park, he said.

“With events and cross country meets, there could be some eastbound traffic that affects state park entrance. We would have a westbound turn lane into park as well, and widen the through lane. It is a holistic picture to fix both Eagle Park and state park at the same time.”

INDOT is funded on a five-year cycle. Brown said the department would plan to submit a project for the next available funding cycle, which is 2028.

With a signal or roundabout, a small amount of property acquisition would be needed, mainly on the north side of 46 East. The acquisition would total to less than an acre, Brown said.

This project would compete for funding with other projects across the state.

INDOT will score projects, which will be evaluated in February. Officials will decide which projects move on by the following spring or summer.

‘Needs to be addressed’

On May 19, local resident Bob Kirlin drove up to the scene of a crash with injuries on 46 East at the state park north gate only 30 seconds after it had happened.

He was coming back from Columbus when he saw drivers slamming on their brakes and people running in the middle of the road.

The crash resulted in an 18-year-old Brown County High School student being airlifted from the scene — just days before her graduation.

Not long after that crash, Kirlin started a petition on Change.org to improve the safety at that intersection. A paper copy of the petition was also available at the Carpenter Hills O’ Brown Realty office on Jefferson Street.

“For many years our community has experienced many accidents and a lot of near misses at this intersection. Our county is known for being the ‘Peaceful Valley,’ we would like to keep it that way. We need this problem to be addressed ASAP,” the online petition reads.

The online petition has received nearly 550 signatures since it was posted.

The plan was to present the petition to INDOT and others in state government in hopes of bringing additional safety measures to the intersection.

Over the last seven years, there have been at least 96 crashes reported at that intersection, according to dispatch records.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources hires sheriff’s deputies to direct traffic at the state park north gate when there is a backup, usually in October when there is more traffic to the state park and Nashville.

Brown County Sheriff Scott Southerland said deputies can’t stand out there for eight or 10 hours to direct traffic the entire time. They wait until it gets backed up and it clearly becomes a problem, he said in June.

Southerland added that the intersection is one of the accident “hotspots” in the county, and the safety of his deputies is also a concern.

At the June 1 county commissioners meeting, the topic was brought up once again.

Commissioner Diana Biddle said the board had discussed the intersection with INDOT a couple of times before, with the last time being about four years ago.

Biddle also said that Highway Superintendent Mike Magner was going to reach out to INDOT as well about the intersection.

Commissioner President Jerry Pittman said in June that a roundabout in that area would act as a “traffic blocker.”

Commissioners were not present at the meeting with INDOT and Nashville Town Council.

What can be done?

Adding a light signal would be cheaper than adding a roundabout, Brown said, and he wanted to know the council’s input on one versus the other. Either scenario, he added, would require a lot of signs, pavement resurfacing and markings.

Nashville Town Council President Nancy Crocker asked which option would help traffic flow better.

Brown said there are less delays at a roundabout and it is free-flowing all the time and added that all INDOT roundabouts are designed for semi-trucks and agricultural equipment.

Roundabout speed limits in general are 15 to 25 miles per hour to move through safely.

Brown said a roundabout can reduce crashes by 58%, since it forces all vehicles to slow down.

“The design will take care of making sure vehicles slow down,” he said.

“It’s not been an issue with numerous roundabouts we have in state in southeast Indiana.”

As for roundabouts on a state highway, INDOT Technical Services Director Becky Packer said they are some of the newer and “more aesthetic” features in Mooresville, with red bricks and colored concrete. There are also some on the North Vernon bypass and US 50.

She said those are high-speed areas that had seen fatalities before the roundabouts.

Crocker asked if INDOT would be willing to put art features, like a sculpture, in the middle of a roundabout.

Packer said they install landscaping and Brown said there needs to be a breakaway such as flowers or bushes. Large monuments could contribute to potential fatalities.

Council member Jane Gore asked about a yellow flashing light going east to west and a red flashing light from north to south.

Brown said there are many such lights in the state, but often they do not provide the safety benefit intended.

In some cases with a red flashing light, Brown said, drivers pull out assuming others have red flashing light too.

“I think 46 (East) is well known it doesn’t stop, but there is potential for (assumption),” he said.

“We’ve read crash reports where people think others would stop. The flashing light wouldn’t help you get out of the state park, (when there’s) no gap in traffic. You want to turn left and you’re sitting there longer than you’d like to. I think the signal or roundabout would provide Old 46 or state park the necessary gap to get out.”

Brown County Chief Deputy Brad Stogsdill suggested installing a light signal that would stay green during evenings and nights on 46 East until travelers from Old 46 or the state park triggered ground sensors.

Brown said that would be similar to the intersection at Hawthorne Drive and 46 East, which will have “modernization” coming with a detection and American Disabilities Act (ADA) push buttons.

Crocker said Nashville is unique and the community does not want “ some nasty utilitarian stoplight.”

“Our community is unique, it is not Indianapolis. We don’t want some big stoplight going up. Town council paid a lot of money at one for Main and Van Buren to make it not look like an industrial. Then when replaced, we got this nasty thing. We need to communicate about that. Our community is different. We need to keep that in mind.”

Kirlin was present at the meeting on Aug. 25 and said INDOT had been contacted in 2014 about the issue at the state park intersection but nothing had been done.

He was president of Nashville Town Council at the time.

In August, Kirlin said he didn’t have a temper, but he was upset.

By putting it on a five-year plan for 2028, after he approached INDOT in 2014, he said he doesn’t think INDOT “could care less” about the intersection.

“We pride ourselves on this community, we may be small but we pride ourselves,” he said.

“I don’t think INDOT could care less about this community, the people who live here and all of the tourists that come out to the state park. I am embarrassed.”

Brown said INDOT was not saying nothing needs to be done, but that other intersections in the state had worse crash patterns or higher congestion than those in Brown County.

“We’re trying again,” he said.

Stogsdill said the state park intersection has been dealt with his entire career and added that the department has a difficult time getting officers to conduct detail in the area because of safety concerns.

By working traffic detail at the intersection, Stogsdill said that he has seen firsthand that the 45 mph speed limit is not observed.

“Our tourism took a decline and it’s really come back, COVID brought our tourism back to life. October is getting back to 1980s, when we would back (up traffic) all the way to Columbus,” he said.

“I don’t know what the answer is there, it is a dangerous intersection, I don’t know the answer to keep (traffic) flowing any better.”

Crocker said there needs to be a better plan than a stoplight or roundabout in five years.

“We need to come up with a better plan,” she said. “We need to do something now.”

Nashville Police Chief Heather Burris said adding a stoplight or roundabout would move accidents to Snyder Road.

Stogsdill added fatality crashes that have occurred at State Road 135 South and 46 East and Nashville Clerk-Treasurer Brenda Young said that Parkview Road is also a concern.

Crocker said in other words, there needs to be a plan for more than just the park.

“We need to be creative in thinking about what we can do in the meantime to help (the state park) intersection over the next five years,” she said.