At last, the anticipation is
over. Dec. 2 marked the end of the three-month long planning and construction
for the traffic signal at the intersection of Fort Street and Military Avenue.
In October of 2001,
assistant traffic engineer, Glenn Hanson, received the first complaint about
this intersection by Ms. Kish.
There was talk of a traffic
signal being added in the future at the intersection, but at that time no
official planning for the much-needed signal had yet begun.
The city of Omaha later went
on to draw up a proposal for a signal meant for the intersection of Fort and
Military, which included a design that was presented to the Nebraska Highway
safety Commission.
This proposal prompted the
Nebraska Highway Safety Commission to perform a traffic study at the
intersection. It was discovered that these accidents continually occurred
mainly due to people making right hand turns while going east on Fort Street.
Results of the study sparked
approval of the signal by the Nebraska Highway and Safety Commission.
Planning and construction
for the Fort and Military traffic signal cost an estimated $75,000. The funding
for this project came from the Nebraska Highway Safety Commission and the city
of Omaha, having 80/20 split in favor of the city of Omaha.
Omahans seem to like the new
signal. Hanson has not received any negative feedback thus far. “I think it
works fine, it will solve the problem it was put in to solve,” said Hanson
However, a few Marian girls
would beg to differ, “I think it’s
really annoying that you now have to stop and wait at a light, and it’s a real
inconvenience that you can’t turn left [on to Military when coming from Fort]
anymore,” said junior Malori Flanery.
Flanery, like many Marian
girls, uses this intersection at least twice a day.
Although the signal was put
in because of serious matters, junior Meg Rauth managed to find humor in the
new signal. “My feelings are neutral about the light but I still don’t like
stopping because it’s a waste of time. When the lines are long, the light
changes like two times before I get to go. There is a statistic that says that
that the average person spends three months of their life waiting at [traffic]
lights,” said Rauth.
More experienced drivers
from Marian, would say the opposite. “ I think it’s better organized and safer,
people will get in less accidents, especially when leaving school. Traffic is
so heavy there,” said senior Lindsey Panneton.
Physics teacher Mrs. Sharon
Genoways agrees with Panneton, enthusiastically saying, “Oh, I love that light!
Genoways, like many others,
feels that the new light helps ease the frustration that drivers who frequented
the intersection once experienced.
“It’s a good addition to the
intersection,” says math teacher, Roger Wright, “Before, you had people pulling
in front of other people at fast speeds and that leads to accidents. With the
new light that doesn’t happen.”