Hauxeda co-worker John Tate recently informed me the no left turn sign at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park that I wrote about in April is gone.
It first appeared April 22, below a stop sign — attached to the same pole.
The new sign's effect on traffic was that drivers exiting Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park at Scenic Avenue could not turn left toward Battlefield Road, but could only turn right toward Sunshine Street.
The entrance/exit to the park off of Scenic is about midway between Battlefield and Sunshine.
I wrote about it because it seemed rather inconvenient for those visitors leaving the park who would prefer to turn left onto Scenic to get to Battlefield. I figured it was worth asking why the sign was needed.
To alleviate traffic backups when exiting
I called the Springfield-Greene County Park Board in April and spokesperson Jenny Fillmer Edwards provided an explanation.
“It’s to alleviate traffic backups from vehicles exiting the park,” she said. “Certainly, we experience delays during festivals, large events or even busy weekends. But even on a regular weekday traffic can get backed up several cars when someone is attempting a left turn.”
The short exit road from the park to Scenic is only two lanes — one in each direction. It doesn't take much for traffic to back up.
Edwards said the left turn prohibition was used during the Japanese Fall Festival, held annually the weekend after Labor Day in the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden. Once the festival ended, the Springfield-Greene County Park Board took down the no left turn sign.
“Staff on site has decided to put it back up,” Edwards said months ago. “We certainly could have used it prior to Monday. But it was just Monday when they realized we can put that back up. The line of reasoning is that it’s busy out there all the time.”
In April, Edwards said the no-left-turn sign would remain for the “foreseeable future.”
We apparently have come to the “foreseeable future.”
I called Edwards back: Why was it taken down?
It's because the Springfield Public Works Department informed the Park Board that a no left turn sign cannot share a sign post with a stop sign.
This is Pokin Around column No. 197.
