Engineer Highlights Broad Ripple's Growing Traffic Problem

During Wednesday's remonstration against the Browning/Whole Foods project heard before the Metropolitan Development Commission, Brad Yarger, President of Yarger Engineering, gave a presentation on the traffic problems in Broad Ripple Village.  It is worth watching.



Interestingly Mr. Yarger notes that the Browning/Whole Foods project will cause the traffic to be 19% worse at various spots in the Broad Ripple Village. 

What Mr. Yarger fails to note though is that due to the traffic congestion on Broad Ripple Avenue, many drivers are diverting to residential streets south of Broad Ripple Avenue and using those streets to get from one point in the village to another.  (That will decrease those folks peaceful neighborhood and also eventually lead to a decrease in home values.)  Of course it didn't help that the brainiacs in the City decided to take away two traffic lanes on part of Broad Ripple Avenue to create two rarely used bike lanes when there was a sidewalk which could have instead been diverted into a walking/biking path that would have been very popular.

I have also read some anonymous commentators (which I suspect are Browning and/or Whole Foods PR people) on websites insisting that Broad Ripple doesn't have a traffic problem.  Anyone who has driven through Broad Ripple knows otherwise.  Then you have people, i.e. idiots, who believe in the "traffic calming" theory that holds that traffic congestion is a good thing.  Anyone who seen those drivers on Broad Ripple Avenue gnashing their teeth, honking their horn and flipping the bird because they have sat through several light cycles while moving only a few feet, know they're anything but "calm."