Traffic in Fort Wayne (Warsaw, Washington: neighborhoods, construction, maintenance)

[cdr18]

I moved to Fort Wayne two years ago and have one question. Why is the traffic in Fort Wayne so good? Kind of a random question, but I want to know why. Obviusly, Coliseum can get backed up and rush hour around five isn't the best, but overall I69 and most of the roads remain decent during rush hour time. Just curious I guess.

[mbuszu]

Primarily because the city, county, and state invest a lot in road maintenance and expansion. My wife and I felt the same way when we moved here from NYC years ago - traffic in Fort Wayne moves along really well.

[ShadowCaver]

lol, ok, I'll bite on this... its all a matter of what routes a person is taking, and their perspective anyhow I suppose

Taking over 20 minutes, in stop 'n go traffic, to go from one end of Coliseum area to the other, a distance of ~13 miles - that is not a pleasant daily commute, at least for someone that does NOT like 'city' traffic. Apologies for repeating, but I really wish that Coliseum would have had been differently constructed - have it be more free-flowing, with side access roads to get to the shops, etc. From locals', have heard that when this route was being constructed [1950's?], the Feds plans had such, but the City gov't wanted it as currently built - and turned down the Fed money - and now we have all this build-up, and congestion. And again, Lima [IN3] is just about as bad, if not worse... boggles my mind to see these roads get more and more crowded, in just the relatively short ~10 years I've been in this area. [have heard tales that IN3 will be widened to 3 lanes, each direction, between Dupont and Ludwig... be interesting to see that occur].

Another rant - need to have more/larger signs giving more notice of what roads are up-ahead, esp. the main cross-streets - can't count how many times have seen so many people [esp. during shopping seasons] unfamiliar w/ the routes at last moment try to jostle from one side to the other far side lane.

Curious - have either of yas seen Coliseum, as you are near the Coliseum itself [Clinton St], while heading east - and looked at nothing but a sea of red tail lights - all the way to Crescent Ave.? Morning, lunch hour, and 5pm rush, everyday...

[cdr18]

Ok, but all mid-sized cities are going to have traffic problems in some spots. While Coliseum is not aesthetically pleasing right now, I can only imagine if they would have side roads how unpleasant that might look. I mean, look at Warsaw and Columbia City. Those always end up growing weeds around the fences in between the roads. That would not look good with a mall and big box stores in the area. I will say during rush hour, it is ideal to avoid some northern and western roads such as Lima, Coliseum, and Jefferson, and Illinois (construction). However, for the most part, Fort Wayne infrastructure is not bad when comparing to other mid-sized cities.

[mbuszu]

I feel like the current situation on Coliseum Blvd is the result of poor zoning more than anything else. They've essentially created a super concentrated shopping area in a relatively small space off of just one route. It's not good for the vicinity as congestion is the obvious side effect of first putting in a massive indoor mall, but then zoning for retail all up and down and around the mall. It's simply too much, too many people, in too tight a space. Someone got seriously carried away with the retail zoning right there.

[wh15395]

I don't understand why everyone thinks Illinois is just bad because of construction. Before the work even started it would regularly back up over I-69 towards the Shell station during rush hour. Oh and Coldwater from Coliseum to Washington Center road is awfull every day too.

[cdr18]

However, when Illinois Road becomes two lanes in both ways, I doubt you will see that bad of congestion. That is what they are referring to. Obviously, it has overgrown its one lane days, but once they open the new road, it will still be busy but the congestion won't be near as bad. Also, Coldwater Road to Dupont is actually very congested.

[mbuszu]

Originally Posted by wh15395

I don't understand why everyone thinks Illinois is just bad because of construction. Before the work even started it would regularly back up over I-69 towards the Shell station during rush hour. Oh and Coldwater from Coliseum to Washington Center road is awfull every day too.

The bottleneck on Illinois Rd. was always nearby the intersection of Hadley Rd. where people traveling eastward turning off Illinois would slow and many times stop traffic because there were no turning lanes. Additionally, there seemed to be a funnel effect from the 69 traveling westward on Illinois where two lanes would merge to one at the intersection of Hadley. Traffic wasn't bad back in 2002-2003, but things got congested quickly as new developments off of Illinois were established west of West Hamilton Rd. The road changes are going to help immensely because people turning on and off of Illinois won't be in the way of people traveling straight. Additionally, the road will accommodate twice as many people traveling straight in both directions all the way to Scott Rd.

All that rationalized and stated I cannot help but feel like this area is definitely the one to look at if you're relocating to Fort Wayne. You've got beautiful neighborhoods and easy access to the 69, all the shopping and restaurants you could want as well as a straight shot downtown.

[Buy with Jared and Amanda]

I have been steering clear of 14/Illinois Road around the 69 area until they are completely done with the construction there. We lived North East for 4 years, around the Shoaff Park area. After moving South West we really enjoy the traffic flow down here a lot more than NE. Well, except for that annoying light on Covington and Jefferson.