Searching for traffic solutions

Traffic on the south side of Danville’s Bypass can get pretty bad at rush hour. But instead of just putting up with it like many of us must, local officials are working to develop possible improvements.

As we reported over the weekend, Danville Police Chief Tony Gray, P&Z Director Steve Hunter and Danville City Engineer Earl Coffey recently sat down to brainstorm ideas with the state Transportation Cabinet for the stretch of the bypass outside the shopping centers west of Hustonville Road.

The ideas they came up with include simplifying traffic flow at the intersections of the bypass and Skywatch Drive in front of Starbucks; adding a traffic light on the bypass in front of Applebee’s; and, at some point in the future, possibly converting the intersection in front of Starbucks to a right-in, right-out only for westbound traffic.

Adding the traffic light is not a simple suggestion, because the state won’t put a light in unless there’s more traffic at the intersection. In order to generate enough traffic flow, one idea is to connect that intersection more directly to the residential neighborhoods behind the shopping centers with a connector road between Belinda Boulevard and Fox Harbor Drive.

It sounds counterintuitive to suggest that more traffic would make traffic better. But in this case, it wouldn’t actually be more traffic, it would just be redistributed traffic. Other roads like Denmark Drive at the other end of the shopping centers would in theory see less traffic because people heading west would have a better exit down Fox Harbor to Belinda.

As City Engineer Coffey was careful to note, nothing is a done deal yet — these are all ideas that have yet to fully form. And even if an idea is a good one today, that doesn’t mean sometime in the future something would change with traffic in the area and a previously good idea would no longer be useful.

We’re just happy the issue is being talked about. Whatever the solutions may ultimately prove to be, we can’t get there if we don’t talk about it first.

Boyle EMS ready to care for kids

Boyle County EMS has recently been recognized for its efforts to be prepared if a child is in need of emergency medical care. While no one ever wants a child to be put in a life or death situation, it’s great that if or when such a situation occurs, Boyle County paramedics and EMTs will be ready to make life a more likely outcome.

Boyle has special kid-size attachments for adult stretchers, measuring equipment that provides info on the right medication dosages for smaller bodies and a overall plan for ensuring the EMS agency is up-to-date on medications and best practices.

That all means when something bad happens like a wreck or a fall that injures a child, we can all take a little comfort knowing our EMS crews will give that child the best possible chance at recovery.