The intersection of 7th and Dunn street looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets looking northwest. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets, looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
Reinstallation of the stop at 7th and Dunn streets. (April 12, 2023)
Reinstallation of the stop sign at 7th and Dunn streets. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets, looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
The intersection of 7th and Dunn streets, looking northeast. (April 12, 2023)
Around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, a yellow-vested crew from the street division of Bloomington’s department of public works started drilling holes to reinstall stop signs for 7th Street traffic at Dunn Street.
The work was finished by around 3 p.m. That makes the intersection at Dunn and 7th, just west of the Indiana University campus, an all-way stop.
The stop sign went in, because city engineer Andrew Cibor used his legal authority, to order the placement of the stop signs for 180 days.
Cibor’s order is based on a study of crashes along the 7th Street corridor, before and after the 7-Line separated bicycle lane was installed in 2021. The study showed an increase in crash numbers, especially at the intersection of Dunn and 7th Street. Continue reading “Stop signs reinstalled at 7th & Dunn in Bloomington”→
Four intersections are not recommended by the BPSC or the traffic commission to have stop signs reinstalled (gray). At Dunn Street (red) a stop signs is recommended to be reinstalled. Floated but not acted on were the ideas of putting a 20 mph speed limit on 7th Street and making Indiana Avenue a two-way street.
Bloomington traffic commission (March 24, 2023)
7th Street looking west just after the turn from Woodlawn.
A recommendation from city engineer Andrew Cibor, to reinstall five stop signs along 7th Street in downtown Bloomington, will not have complete support from two advisory groups when it lands in front of the city council.
On Wednesday, the traffic commission followed suit, unanimously recommending that the intersection at 7th and Dunn street be restored to an all-way stop.
It’s not clear when the recommendation will be put in front of the city council for a vote.
Both appointed groups explicitly rejected Cibor’s recommendation that stops for 7th Street traffic at Morton, Lincoln, Washington, and Grant streets also be reinstalled.
The vote against reinstallation of the other four stop signs was unanimous on the BPSC. But traffic commissioners were split 4–2.
The stops for 7th Street traffic at Morton, Lincoln, Washington, Grant, and Dunn streets were removed, but those for the north-south side streets were left in place.
The elimination of the stops was meant to encourage the use of the east-west corridor by cyclists.
Now with a year’s worth of crash data in hand after the opening of the 7-Line, Bloomington’s city engineer Andrew Cibor is recommending that the five stop signs be reinstalled.
The reinstallation of the stop signs would have to be approved by the city council. Before the city council considers the engineer’s recommendation, two of the city’s advisory boards are supposed to weigh in—the bicycle and pedestrian safety commission (BPSC) and the traffic commission.
On Monday, the BPSC unanimously rejected the idea that all five stop signs should be reinstalled. But the BPSC unanimously supported reinstallation of the 7th Street stop signs at Dunn Street.
The aerial image with perspective from from the north is from the Monroe County online property lookup system.
View from the north of the Poplar Building on 7th Street on July 19, 2022.
“You have a beautiful neighborhood that we want to assist in improving ever further by the removal of the IU Poplars Building.”
That’s a line from a July 12 heads-up letter that was hand-delivered by Renascent, Inc. to neighbors of the Indiana University Poplars Building on 7th Street, west of campus.
Renascent is the company that has been contracted to do the demolition work, which has already started.
The hand-delivered letter warned residents of upcoming closures of Grant Street, west of the building, and Dunn Street, east of the building.
View looking west from the top of the parking structure at 7th & Walnut.
View looking west at the intersection of 7th & Walnut.
View looking west from the top of the parking structure at 7th & Walnut.
View looking south from the top of the parking garage at 7th & Walnut.
Late Wednesday morning, a ribbon-cutting was held for Bloomington’s new 7-Line, which is a separated two-way bicycle lane that runs along the south side of 7th Street.
The new path runs three-quarters of a mile—eastward from the north-south B-Line Trail around Morton Street, to the Indiana University campus.
The ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the western end of the new bicycle lane.
According to the city’s news release, remarks were to be delivered by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton. Also scheduled to give remarks were: Siân Mooney, who is the dean of the Indiana University O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs; Jeanne Smith, who is owner of Bikesmiths: and Beth Rosenbarger, Bloomington’s planning services manager.
The sunny weather, mostly calm winds, and temperatures in the mid-50s meant good weather conditions for last Saturday’s (Nov. 6) Little 500 Street Sprints.
This year, the course started in front of the Indiana Memorial Union on 7th Street and headed farther into the university campus, east towards the Showalter Fountain.
The 200-meter straight-line sprints are part of a fall series of events connected to the Little 500 race, which is held in the spring at the Bill Armstrong Stadium track. Rounding out the fall series are individual item trials at the stadium track, and cyclocross races at the tailgate field.
Washington Street looking south at 7th Street. (Dave Askins/B Square 2021-10-09)
Purple: B-Line. Red: 7-Line
A bicyclist heads east on 7th from Indiana Avenue. (Dave Askins/B Square 2021-10-10)
In a news release issued on Friday (Oct. 8), the city of Bloomington publicized its removal of stop signs along 7th Street at cross streets between Walnut Street and Indiana Avenue.
The removal of the stop signs is intended to help the traffic flow on 7th Street.
The east-west street will eventually see the completion of the 7-Line, a separated bicycle lane, which is under construction on the south side of the roadway. The two-way bicycle lane on 7th Street will stretch from the B-Line on the west, to Woodlawn Avenue on the east.
In transportation engineering terms, what the city is implementing is a new “traffic pattern.”
As a practical matter, the removal of stop signs on 7th Street means that motorists and other users of the cross streets will have to be alert. The traffic on 7th Street no longer has to stop at four intersections.
Vehicles on Washington, Lincoln, Grant, and Dunn streets will continue to see a stop sign when they reach the 7th Street intersection.
To help get drivers and other users of the roadway accustomed to the new traffic pattern, yellow “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signage has been attached to the stop signs for cross streets. Electronic signs that flash a warning about the new traffic pattern have also been placed at some of the intersections.
