A highly traveled intersection in Knox went under a second review by INDOT officials.
Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler told the county commissioners last Monday that a second traffic study was done at U.S. 35 and 200 South by the Dollar General store in Knox.
“When they built that store we had INDOT do a study and they said it did not warrant a stop light,” explained Ritzler. “They said once you get the store in place and there’s an accident or two call us again. So I did that. They just contacted me today and they told me they’re not going to put a stop light there. It doesn’t warrant that.”
Ritzler said he will continue to contact INDOT about traffic in that area as it remains a safety concern.
“As far as their statistics are concerned, near-misses don’t count. They have to have accident statistics. We don’t always agree with that, but there’s not quite enough traffic to warrant a signal. We will keep on them about that though and you better believe the next time there’s an accident or something I will go back and have them do it again.”
The original construction plans for the store were altered to account for safety. At the time, Ritzler recommended moving the driveway to the entrance to the store off of U.S. 35 to 200 South as he thought traffic would be less congested there.
The store was built at that location in 2018.
