Blocking Broadway for a burger is a bother

By: 
Ann Gill
Editor

It’s a daily occurrence, but when you add road construction and an early school dismissal day, blocking Broadway to get a burger becomes a bigger bother.
Like many in the community, Coal City Mayor Terry Halliday has seen multiple vehicles stopped on Broadway—morning and mid-day— waiting their turn through the McDonald’s drive-thru and wants it to stop.
“I don’t know what we do. Do we have an officer stand at the (intersection) or something in the morning and tell these people to not stop and block the road trying to get into the McDonald’s?” Halliday asked.
Police chief Tom Best said when his officers see this happen they stop and inform the motorists to either go around the block until they can fit in the parking lot or to park their vehicle and walk into the restaurant.
“We talk to people all the time. It’s bad enough when everything is normal and now we have all of this (construction) going on. I know it’s terrible,” Best said.
“Right. The other day it was actually a mess because there were two cars totally blocking people from going right (from Division on to Broadway). It’s ridiculous,” the mayor responded.
Although, he’s well aware of the daily pace at the police station, the mayor asked that officers keep an eye on that area to avoid further traffic backups caused by the need for a fast food fix.
On the topic of Broadway traffic, the mayor also asked the chief to take a look at the new traffic pattern and the need to inform motorists heading south on Broadway that they have to stay to the right of the barricades when turning from Division Street.
“I saw two cars coming down the wrong way, because I think that wide area (at the intersection) is where they think they should go and they start coming southbound in the northbound lane,” Halliday said.
He’s confident motorists will get use to the new configuration, but a little reminder doesn’t hurt.