For many residents of Florence’s Orleans neighborhood, increased traffic along Orleans Boulevard started as a nuisance but has developed into a safety concern. Now, residents are asking the county what can be done.
“The traffic has gotten so bad on this street that the residents of this small section of Orleans Boulevard can’t even get out of their driveways,” claimed resident Trevor Nelson.
At a meeting on March 11, Nelson and several of his neighbors pleaded with the Boone County Fiscal Court to alter the county’s transportation plan to make the roadway safer. Their concerns ranged from frequent speeding along Orleans Boulevard to increased traffic.
“The main issue here is at the county level,” he said. “As you can see here, Longbranch Road curves right into Orleans Boulevard. Before Orleans Boulevard was designed and built, this road (Longbranch) was actually straight. For some reason – I don’t know why – but this road was changed to curve into Orleans Boulevard.”
From there, Orleans Boulevard runs through a residential neighborhood that features a large roundabout. The roundabout leads drivers to a four-way stop where Orleans Boulevard intersects with Longbranch Road. The intersection is less than a quarter mile from Old Union Road – a primary connector road to US-42, which drivers use to get from Union to Interstate-75/71.
Three public schools—Cooper High School, Cooper Elementary School and Ballyshannon Middle School—are located to the west of Nelson’s neighborhood. Nelson says the neighborhood’s proximity to the schools increases the number of “transient” drivers on Orleans Boulevard throughout a typical day.
Nelson said that during peak hours, when drivers are traveling to and from work, cars are frequently backed up past the four-way intersection. The high volume of traffic and speeding drivers have sparked concerns from residents with children who wait for the school bus in the morning.
“We’re seeing now 3,000 cars per day, a 50% increase in 10 years, and that would continue to go up parabolically,” resident Navdeep Kang said. “But from an average speed, it was 10 or 12 miles per hour above the limit, with many cars doing 70.”
The neighborhood’s location is also somewhat unusual. While the section of Orleans Boulevard Nelson refers to is under the jurisdiction of the city of Florence, it’s sandwiched between unincorporated Boone County and the City of Union. Longbranch Road, which feeds into Orleans Boulevard, is under the jurisdiction of unincorporated Boone County.
After speaking with city representatives, they recommended that Nelson and his neighbors speak to the Boone County Fiscal Court about the issue. The majority of traffic originates from Camp Ernst Road, which is under the county’s jurisdiction.
Nelson recommended that the county find some way to connect Longbranch Road to US-42, bypassing the neighborhood and theoretically decreasing the frequency of traffic.
“What really needs to happen is we need to have some discussion between the county and the city (Florence) of forms to figure out what we can do to solve this issue, my recommendation would be to straighten back out this intersection at the northern end of Orleans Boulevard and find a way to connect Longbranch directly to 42,” said Nelson.
However, for Longbranch Road to connect directly with US-42, it would likely need to run alongside the back end of three private properties, one of which is owned by the Union Light Heat & Power Company.
“There’s no way that we can continue to grow as a county and keep this the way it is,” Nelson said. “I feel bad that residents that live on this part of Orleans Boulevard is right now, I can’t imagine what’s going to be like in 10, 15, 20 plus years.”
In response to Nelson’s concerns, Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore told the audience that his request was “timely” as the county is in the process of updating the Transportation Plan. He recommended that Nelson and his neighbors share their concerns at an upcoming public transportation planning meeting.
Boone County Engineer Rob Franxman said the meeting is scheduled for April 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Boone County Extension Center in Burlington.
“That’ll be more than just a transportation event,” Franxman said. “It’ll actually have some family activities and stuff like that as well communicate about transportation.”
