Major lane restrictions at Auburn and Dupont Roads to be removed this week

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Two weeks ago, WANE 15 viewers started contacting the station about a construction project that popped up at Auburn and Dupont Roads in northern Fort Wayne.

The 15 Finds Out team discovered the city failed to give prior notice about the project that’s scheduled to go on until September 1.

On Monday, WANE 15 got an update on the project from city traffic engineer Philip LaBrash.

LaBrash said the removal of the barrels and barricades that was planned for Friday, July 26 will be on time and will happen before the end of this week.

Now that pavement patching and concrete work is done, LaBrash said the intersection will essentially look like what it did before, except with the addition of new offset left turn lanes.

It’s important to note that there will still be spot restrictions at that intersection up to September 1 as pavement marking and signal adjustments still need to be made to complete the project.

“We appreciate all the patience that people have. I know we’ve received a lot of calls and we appreciate hearing from the public, and we do our best to try to accommodate and make things as easily navigable as possible,” LaBrash said.

The offset left turn lanes create a space between the left turn lanes and the other lanes on the road, which provides drivers better visibility and is 30% safer, according to LaBrash who cited the Federal Highway Administration.

He said they like to implement these left turn lanes at intersections throughout the city.

“[Dupont and Auburn] being a busy intersection does move it up in the priorities as far as implementing safety measures,” he explained. “Not saying that there was anything in particular that made it unsaf, but just improve the general safety of a signalized intersection.”

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