Edwardsville drivers continue making banned left turn at Main-Vandalia intersection

This vehicle prepares to turn left on Vandalia on a recent morning in Edwardsville. Drivers are restricted from turning left on the roadway.

One by one, drivers headed south through the Vandalia-North Main Street intersection in Edwardsville on March 31.

Most continued straight on Main Street. A few turned right onto Vandalia.

But several turned left — a maneuver that is now illegal.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has asked the city to ban left turns at the intersection during construction on North Main Street, where the dedicated turn lane has been temporarily removed. The project is expected to be completed later this summer.

IDOT has jurisdiction over the intersection, where Illinois 143, 157 and 159 converge. Part of the intersection was shut down for much of the week of March 23, when water main replacement forced a closure on Vandalia Street.

On North Main, an electronic sign warns southbound drivers that left turns onto Illinois 143 are prohibited. A second sign mounted on the traffic signal also indicates no left turns.

During about an hour of observation, roughly 340 vehicles passed through the intersection. About 35 drivers either ignored or did not see the signs and turned left onto Vandalia.

Some pulled into the intersection and waited for a gap in northbound traffic. In one case, a commercial vehicle sat in the intersection until all northbound traffic cleared, holding up cars behind it. Only a few vehicles were able to proceed before the light turned red.

“There’s not a good idea that exists right now” to address the violations, City Administrator Eric Williams said, noting the congestion makes consistent enforcement difficult.

IDOT, meanwhile, has no enforcement authority, said Dawn Johnson, communications outreach liaison for the agency’s Region Five office in Collinsville.

With several months of construction remaining, the problem is likely to continue.

“There are no additional traffic restrictions planned due to Goshen Commons,” Williams said in an email, referring to the nearby development project. “The Goshen Commons project is located within the portion of St. Louis Street that has been closed since the beginning of January.”

Construction on Goshen Commons is set to begin this spring and finish in the fall.

Williams said “hardscape” work on North Main remains on track for completion in July, with landscaping expected to follow in the fall during optimal planting season.

The city will continue to post updates on its website and social media, including its project page at www.cityofedwardsville.com/cityprojects.

Weather-related delays remain a possibility, Williams said, depending on the type of work underway.

Don Munsch is the city reporter for the Edwardsville Intelligencer.  An Arlington, Texas, native, he is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University and has written for newspapers in Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. He has covered just about everything on the news beat, from education to police and courts to religion, and has also covered a fair amount of sports.