The city of Vincennes is proposing putting Hart Street on a “Road Diet”.

The Federal Highway Administration says that term means a reconfiguration.

The idea would be to convert the the 4 lane undivided Hart Street from Veterans Drive to 15th Street to a 3 lane configuration with 1 travel lane each direction.

It would include a center two-way left turn lane and bike lanes.

The configuration would remove left turn movements from the flow of traffic and reduce  crossing conflicts to 1 lane of oncoming traffic.

The Vincennes Mayor’s office says that over the past 4 years there have been  58 reported crashes on Hart Street between Veterans Drive and 15th Street.

28 of those crashes are “T-bone” crashes, 22 are rear end collisions, and 8 are side swipe lane change crashes.

The crashes are said to be likely caused in part because when wishes to turn left, they must stop in the passing lane to wait for an opening and cross 2 lanes of traffic. This creates a backup in the passing lane that leads to most of the rear end collisions.

The most recent crash happened on Monday.

The city says while losing 1 travel lane may seem like a loss of efficiency, much is gained by removing those left turn movements from the flow of traffic.

Below is an image of a “Road Diet”