A Traffic Light at Merrimac

Even though the population of Dodgeville, Wisconsin is only around 4,800 people, there is quite a bit of traffic congestion along Dodgeville’s only real north-south through street: Iowa/Bequette, otherwise known as Wisconsin State Highway 23.

You’d never know it just driving through town, but the south part of WI 23 in Dodgeville is Iowa St. (S. Iowa St. south of Division St. and N. Iowa St. north of Division St.), and the north part of WI 23 is Bequette St., with the dividing line being Spring St., an unholy mess of an intersection that also includes Main St. and Diagonal St. (signed as Ohio St.). This is the perfect candidate for a roundabout if I ever saw one.

Making a left turn onto Iowa St. (which we often have to do) can be nerve-wracking with traffic, pedestrians, and in places poor visibility due to parked cars. A good way to solve this problem (and reduce the likelihood of accidents) would be to have one intersection along Iowa St. that has a traffic light. I think the ideal location for a traffic light would be the intersection of N. Iowa St. and Merrimac St.

Source: https://transportal.cee.wisc.edu/partners/community-maps/