LOVELAND, Oh. — The heart of downtown Loveland is filled with restaurants, cyclists, pedestrians and sometimes traffic. A new traffic light has been installed along W. Loveland Avenue, along the city's bike trail.
Residents and drivers are getting used to the traffic transition, although car horns still ring out at certain hours of the day.
"Traffic's going to have a green, red light, so that they'll continuously go through when it's green. And then, our pedestrians and our bicyclists, they'll have to sit here and wait till they get that walk signal. So hopefully, it'll improve the traffic flow," Assistant City Manager Chris Wojnicz said.
Wojnicz explained that traffic would get seriously backed up in that corridor before the new light was installed.
Watch to see the potential impacts of the new traffic signal in downtown Loveland:
Regulars in the area were surprised when they first encountered the new signal.
"I did not know it was coming; it was a huge surprise today. It was very nice to see that there's actually a light," Maggie Phipps said.
Phipps said she comes to the downtown area often to play down by the Little Miami River with her children. She's grateful to see a light added to make crossing safer.
"We have little ones that like to just kind of run and it was kind of on an honor basis if people would stop or not. So, can't trust that," Phipps said.
City officials said the Ohio Department of Transportation found that the crash rate along W. Loveland Avenue's downtown area was slightly above average.
Also, Loveland police have issued several tickets in the last year to drivers who failed to yield to pedestrians.
"Well, the safest thing is, for lack of a better term, we've taken some of the decision-making out of it. So, you'll follow the light that's in front of you," Loveland Police Department Capt. Daniel Gangwer said.
The change is only a short distance, but will require a bit of patience.
"Keep it simple, use some common sense, obey the lights; it shouldn't be a problem," Gangwer said.
