City to try different direction on Depot Street

With the mayor breaking a tie vote, Depot Street will soon be running the other way -- towards the public square -- for a 60 trial period, after a discussion between Shelbyville city council members Thursday.

However, the switchover is likely several weeks away as the public works department focuses on repairing Shelbyville's underground storm water flume first.

The temporary measure also will close nearby McGrew Street, which has been considered dangerous to oncoming traffic.

The topic wasn't on the council's agenda, but was added by councilman Thomas Landers, who proposed reverting the two block section of Depot to a two-way street, saying that the 90-day trial period had passed.

However after debate, that vote was defeated by a vote of 4-3, with some council members wanting to try having the street with traffic running westward - toward the square.

Council member Kay Rose said that "some people don't like change" while councilman Lee Roy Cunningham spoke of the difficulty of "pleasing everybody."

There was also concern what the impact on the move would have on merchants on the square and Depot. Merchants have expressed their desire to have the street one-way, but prefer to have traffic travelling inbound.

"I hate to keep changing it back and forth," Rose said. "I think we should make a decision and then leave it that way or leave it alone."

Councilman Al Stephenson said he didn't want to go against the wishes of the public, but he was concerned about safety issues, due to the fact that the left turn from McGrew Street onto Jefferson has been called dangerous by Shelbyville police because of poor visibility.

Mayor Wallace Cartwright said that the majority of people who have spoken to him about Depot "like it the way it is," while others want to see the inbound route tried. He added that the businesses on Depot also like the upswing in traffic.

Saying he wanted to keep everybody happy, Cunningham proposed trying Depot going one way inbound for 90 days, but that motion was lowered to 60 days.

Public Works director Mark Clanton said that repainting the street isn't much of an issue, but signs that were made for the first one-way experiment "was a big expense" and will have to be redone for the experiment with the new direction.

When the vote came to a 3-3 tie to have the street run toward the square for 60 days, Cartwright broke the stalemate by voting for the measure.