BUCKHANNON – The Buckhannon Consolidated Public Works Board voted to make Apothecary Way and Capps Street one way.
The board discussed traffic patterns on the two roads during their March 23 meeting after deciding to keep Apothecary Way a two-way street during their Jan. 26 meeting.
“Just to jog everyone’s memory, Capps Street is the alley that goes in front of the Sign Guy, on the east side of CVS, and Apothecary Way would be on the west side,” Mayor Robbie Skinner said.
Director of Public Works Jerry Arnold said his recommendation was to make both streets one way.
“Apothecary Way would be southbound, and Capps Street would be northbound. I was at the sign shop yesterday (The Sign Guy) and witnessed that people are darting around that utility pole in the parking lot, and the guys at the sign shop said people fly through there and people almost get hit,” Arnold said.
In essence, the drive-thru side of CVS Pharmacy will be a one-way road from Main Street, and the alley in front of The Sign Guy will be one-way toward Main Street.
Another option the board considered was having a drive-thru lane against the building of the pharmacy traveling south; the center lane could be a northbound lane; and the lane closest to the hospital would be another southbound lane, creating two-direction traffic and a turn lane.
“Either we do this configuration, or we just go ahead and look at one-way alleys because we have other one-way alleys in our in our city,” Skinner said. “There is one behind Chase Bank, and Traders Alley is one way.”
Arnold said he didn’t think making the alleys one way would be a dramatic shift in traffic.
The motion to make Capps Street one-way northbound and Apothecary Way one-way southbound, was made by board member Mark Waldo and seconded by board member Nancy Shobe. The Consolidated Board approved the motion unanimously.