East Depot is two-way again

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]

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.