Regents Ave. and Normal St. intersection undergoing 90-day traffic study

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – In less than a month, school will be back in session at Western Kentucky University.

The return of students to campus also means an increase in foot traffic on the hill, which is why the city of Bowling Green is taking proactive measures to enhance pedestrian safety at one of the campus’ busiest intersections – Regents Ave. and Normal St.

“On this one there was some maintenance that needed to be done long term, and while we were looking at it we decided to do a preliminary study,” said Greg Meredith, public works director for the city of Bowling Green.

The study Meredith is referring to involves changing the aforementioned intersection from a lit junction to a four-way stop for the next 90 days.

“The study will happen during the 90 day period,” Meredith added. “It’s not like you get to the end and then start deciding. We’ll look at it as school starts, as traffic picks up, as pedestrian traffic picks up.”

While observing altered traffic patterns is part of the study, one of the primary concerns with this intersection is addressing the safety needs of pedestrians in the crosswalks at this junction.

“Based on the fact that there’s no pedestrian phases for the signal currently set up, we thought that a four-way stop would work just fine,” said Meredith. “As a matter of fact, it’ll probably be safer for pedestrians.”

Meredith said city officials will observe traffic in person, as well as through the use of a camera, during the 90-day study, making note of certain traffic differences caused by the newly-implemented stop signs.

“If delays are too long or there are people making movements that are unsafe because there was a need for a signal, then we’ll be able to tell that,” he said.

The new stop signs were installed on Monday morning while the traffic lights were switched to flashing red lights.

Meredith hopes that with the city putting this change into effect now, it will give drivers more time to adjust to the new intersection format before students return to WKU for the fall semester.

“It takes them awhile to adapt to a change, so we thought better adapting in the off peak that it is during school,” said Meredith. “We wanted to go ahead and get started on it.”

The study is expected to be completed around Oct. 20.

The traffic lights will remain on flashing red for approximately another week before city officials cover them up with bags for the remainder of the study.