INDOT presents plan to change traffic flow at Cougar Road and SR 2, residents share concerns

NEW CARLISE, Ind. ---Safety concerns on a busy roadway in New Carlisle could be leading to some major changes.

The Indiana Department of Transportation is proposing to add stoplights and improve the flow of traffic and improve safety along Cougar Road.

INDOT presented their plans to New Carlisle residents at a public hearing Thursday. They plan to convert Cougar Road to one-way traffic from State Road 2 to New Prairie High School. Cougar would remain a two way street to US 20 which is where INDOT is proposing to install a traffic light and turning lanes.

Their goal is to alleviate the high number of crashes the area has seen recently.

“In a 10 year stretch there have been 37 accidents,” Adam Parkhouse with INDOT explained. “14 of those are what we call injury accidents and about half of those were severe.”

The changes would affect a number of people especially those traveling to and from New Prairie high and middle schools where safety is already a big concern for both parents and school officials.

“There’s a historical concern about sr2 in particular and its connection to what we call cougar road, the access road to our high school off of state road two,” Paul White said, the Superintendent of New Prairie Schools. “There’s been a long standing concern about navigating that four lane divided highway, there’s also a steep hill that is a part of the concern.”

While the steep hill won’t be addressed as a part of this proposal, INDOT is confident the plan will improve safety in the area.

Those who live along the stretch of Cougar Road that will be converted to one ways in either direction expressed that the plan will cause them some daily inconveniences. INDOT officials said they’re going to take in all the concerns presented to them at Thursday’s meeting into consideration and hopefully start construction in 2020.