Main street redevelopment plan is a go

GOSHEN, Ind.-- Main Street in Downtown Goshen is getting a make-over.

A nearly million dollar redevelopment plan is getting the green light.

The project has been in the works for over ten years. 

One of the biggest changes would be reconfiguring Main Street from four lanes to two lanes, and not everyone is on board.

“I’m not excited about it at all. It’s already hard to get through Goshen between the new overpass, they already narrowed down 3rd street, so coming around the curb there’s only one lane instead of two. Now you’re going to narrow down Main Street. It’s already hard the way it is now," said Goshen resident, Shauna Bailey.

The city is changing parking along the road from parallel to angled to increasing parking by a total of 42 spots.

This is a change employees at the Best Little Groom Shop are looking forward to.

“They’ll park over here and then park across the street to the courthouse, and then theres some place that has events that takes up all the parking behind and in front of us and theres no room for our clients anymore," said employee, Dakota Davis.

Others worry about safety.

“I think it’s a poor idea. It may make more parking but it may be more hazardous if you’re backing out into a two lane road," said Goshen resident, Cindy Martz.

The city has done their homework saying that after surveying a number of Goshen residents, two thirds found the changes favorable.

“We’ve also looked at other communities where they’ve done angled parking and they did not see an increase in accidents where people are pulling out into oncoming traffic," said Leslie Biek, Civil Traffic Engineer for the City of Goshen.

They’re also removing signals and replacing them with four way stops which is also getting some mixed reviews.

“I personally like that it’s going to be a four way stop. We watch people daily race by, we hear them hitting their brakes and we even watch the semi’s almost pass the thing and you can hear them slamming on their breaks," said Best Little Groom Shop employee, Sam Garvey. 

“It’s not a good idea either. There’s already been complaints from pedestrians I heard of almost getting hit because people didn’t realize it’s a four way stop. You’re changing too much," said Martz.

The city gained control over Main Street from the state in April of this year, allowing the redesign to move forward.

The cost of the project? $989,657 dollars with Niblock Excavating of Bristol, the lowest of four bids.

Construction is set to start in August and last until late October, but knowing that change isn’t always received well, the city says wants to make it a commuity effort.

“If for some reason it doesn’t work we can easily change it back with striping. We hope that when we restripe it and people get to use it and have the additional parking, they’ll find the benefit of it," said Biek.