MOUNT VERNON — Proposals of developing better routes of traffic flow around the city of Mount Vernon were brought to the Knox County Commissioners on Thursday morning by local resident Andrew Pike.
Having a background in aerospace engineering, Pike has been studying the current traffic concerns around the city for some time and has developed some alternative options to better serve the city. A number of incidences have occurred in recent months where semi-trailers get off the posted highways and end up getting lost in residential neighborhoods. Backed up traffic particularly at traffic lights is another concern.
“What is the traffic trying to do?” was one of the main questions posed by Pike. “Traffic is coming in on various highways, being redirected, shuffled around and then going out. The problem appears to be getting the traffic from one highway to another highway smoothly.”
Looking at traffic alternatives around Mount Vernon is nothing new. Pike presented information on this subject from documents dating back to 1946 including a Mount Vernon plan prepared by the city planning commission and the post-war zoning board in 1946, the Mount Vernon General Plan presented in 1966, a city comprehensive plan from 1974, a thoroughfare plan from 1992, a Mount Vernon bypass proposal presented in 1995, a county comprehensive plan from 1998 and a comprehensive plan update from 2006. “In looking at the various proposals from previous years, the one thing they have not done is an analysis of what the traffic is trying to do,” said Pike.
