East Depot is two-way again

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
By Brian Mosely

Public works employee Grady Frazier puts the finishing touches on East Depot Street as the city prepares to open the road to traffic following converting the thoroughfare back to a two-way street.
(T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Order this photo]

East Depot Street is back to normal as of this week -- converted back to a two-way thoroughfare after months of wrangling by the city council.

However, the street won't be open to regular traffic until Wednesday.

Public works department employees were busy Monday morning putting the finishing touches on the two-block section, which had been converted to one-way in early March.

A black seal coat has been placed over the street to cover the markings of the older parking spaces and city manager Ed Craig said that the city is trying to maximize the amount of parking available.

"Of course, we've lost parking spaces from the angled method," Craig said. Members of the public works department were painting new lines Monday morning and Craig estimated that six parking spaces have been lost.

Last October, the city council passed a measure that would turn East Depot into a one-way street for a 90-day period.

All but one of the businesses on Depot supported having the two blocks become a one-way thoroughfare, according to a petition circulated last year.

However, concerns over the possibility of accidents were expressed by members of the Shelbyville Police Department and council members began reconsidering their action.

There was also plenty of debate about which direction the road should go, with some merchants on the square disagreeing what would be the best way for traffic to flow.

The one-way outbound experiment lasted considerably longer than 90 days as the council debated how to satisfy the concerns of both the merchants on the street and Shelbyville's citizens.

Finally, the council decided to put the street back two-way earlier this month, citing that a majority of citizens wanted it to return to the way it always had been.

The road will remain closed Tuesday so that the space can be used for the Historic Uptown Shelbyville Loft Party held by Mainstreet Shelbyville.

Craig admitted that dealing with the issue hasn't been easy.

"It's been a very frustrating experience," Craig said. "You can't please everybody, and this has been highly visible."

He said there were certain advantages to having the street one-way, but obviously, there were some disadvantages.

Craig also said he expected he would soon hear from people that do not like the parallel parking.

Comments

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I for one think it looks great and the stores look real nice with the black street. Masterseal did a great job with the sealing. It would look beautiful to have the entire sqare done.

GMOM

-- Posted by gmom on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 10:08 AM

i see mark clanton was too smart to let his photo get in here again (in association with the much maligned depot st project). instead he tricked poor ole grady frazier into getting his picture took. i am surprised no one has yet written in to suggest that grady's rake be put right next to clanton's wheel (per last week's suggestion).

-- Posted by lazarus on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 10:50 AM

Listen lazarus, do you have nothing better to do than bash Mark Clanton? Mark did not trick Grady to get his picture taken. Seriously, what is wrong with you people? I bet you were sleeping sound in your bed, while MARK CLANTON & the workers were working till 2 in the morning getting East Depot St fixed. Did you ever have to leave your family for work and NOT get paid for it? Mark has to sacrifice leaving his family all the time for the good of Shelbyville. When will you people realize that? And not once have I ever heard him complain about it! NOT ONCE! I'm sick and tired of all the people, especially the ones who sure don't want to actualy get out there and work for a living, who constantly bash good people! This has got to stop. And for the record, most of the people who bash Mark kiss butt when they're face to face with him. So I guess you can consider those people certified class A two-faced! Grow up, lazarus and everyone else in this town who has nothing better to do! Get a hobby, and if you need to relieve some stress, go work out, not sit here on OUR local newspaper and bash good hard working people!!!!

-- Posted by harley0709 on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 1:50 PM

sorry, (c)harley. sometimes humor gets lost in translation. i was poking fun at the people who wrote in all the off-the-wall stuff last week when mark's picture was in the paper (in conjunction with depot st) and i reckon i was sort of chuckling at the disproportionate level of emotion that has attached itself to the whole depot st project. i intended no criticism of mark or grady.

-- Posted by lazarus on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 2:10 PM

GMOM I agree it does look great, now if I can just remember it's a two way street again.......

-- Posted by ShelbyvilleSky.com on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 3:33 PM

harley,

Mark gets paid a salary. It's his job. He doesn't work for free; he works hard and he deserves his salary.

-- Posted by Evil Monkey on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 6:04 PM

Fact remains...the entire project was a failure and a waste of time and most importantly money that the county does not have.

-- Posted by tatersue on Wed, Aug 26, 2009, at 9:30 AM