Ask LaFleur: Why are holiday barriers still in place on Woodruff Road in Greenville?

Question: Does anyone know why the city of Greenville has not removed the median barriers on Woodruff Road between Interstate 85 and Woodruff Industrial Lane?

Answer: If you drive on Woodruff Road near Target, you've likely noticed the barriers have lingered longer than usual. They typically go up before the holiday shopping season and come down soon afterwards.

No, the Greenville Police Department didn't forget to remove them. There's a reason the barriers are still there, according to Lt. Alan Johnson, and it involves crash data.

The barriers were first installed for the Black Friday shopping holiday in 2014 and have been in place for each holiday season since.

Johnson told The Greenville News that the barriers were originally put up to ease holiday traffic and to stop left turns from Woodruff Road into the shopping center where Academy Sports and Home Depot are located.

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Crash statistics show a large number of failure-to-yield collisions in that area overall, Johnson said. The barriers have dramatically reduced those types of collisions. In 2015, City officials reported the area saw more than 50 crashes from January to November. The barriers took that number down to "basically zero".

In years past when the barriers were removed soon after the holidays, collision numbers went right back up.

Collectively, the South Carolina Department of Transportation, the Greenville Police Department and Greenville City Traffic Engineering decided the safety needs in the area outweighed the inconvenience to motorists having to go to the light at Woodruff Industrial to turn left, Johnson said.

The idea of making the barrier permanent has been around for a while. In 2015, City officials told The News it intended to install a permanent barrier in that area.

Over the next few months, a permanent 4-foot-wide concrete median will replace the temporary barriers that run from the I-85 exit ramp to Woodruff Industrial Lane, Johnson said. The move is part of the ongoing I-85/I-385 project to permanently help with collisions and traffic flow.

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Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to elafleur@greenvillenews.com, contact Elizabeth on her Facebook page at facebook.com/ElizabethSLaFleur or send questions via mail to Elizabeth LaFleur, 32 E. Broad St., Greenville, SC 29601. Answers will appear in the Tuesday and Friday print editions of The Greenville News.

Staff Writer Anna Lee contributed.