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Larry Patia of Springfield said he purposefully avoids taking Fourth Street north towards downtown because of the lack of synchronized traffic lights.

The technology upgrade to Fourth Street, which includes converting it from one way to two way from South Grand Avenue to Dodge Street, is welcome news to the lifelong resident.

"It's so slow going from South Grand to downtown (on Fourth Street) because you're stopping at so many lights," said Patia recently at the , with his wife, Patricia. "I think that would be an improvement, having the synchronized lights, whether it stays one way or two way."

Part of the downtown signal modernization project is to also convert Adams Street from Sixth to Ninth Street, from one way to two way.

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The ordinance is on the consent agenda for Wednesday's city council meeting.

The meeting was moved from Tuesday to avoid conflict with in a number of Springfield neighborhoods.

A new central management system will give the city some remote capabilities and help keep signals coordinated and synchronized, said T.J. Heavisides, a traffic engineer for the city.

Two-way streets, Heavisides said, can calm and help slow traffic down.

The changes in traffic patterns could also help boost business for merchants on those streets, he added.

"The Fourth Street (change) definitely makes sense," said Mayor Jim Langfelder. "I've seen people pull down Fourth Street and Seventh Street numerous times (going) the wrong way. It helps with the commerce from the two-way traffic. The reason I say that is I've talked to merchants downtown and some of them pretty much said they wouldn't locate on a one-way street."

said she recently held a neighborhood meeting at firm, 310 E. Adams St., for residents who live on Fourth Street and will be affected by the changes.

Purchase said while residents are more split on the matter of the conversion, business owners have offered more positive feedback.

"Some people are for it and are excited because they said it will slow the traffic and give more visibility for their storefronts and some people are against it," Purchase said. "One gentleman said he has a very nice luxury car, and he will not be parking on (Fourth Street) because he feels it's too narrow and tight. I know some of my (Enos Park neighbors) feel like it'll be super, super tight (crossing over Carpenter Street by the ).

Patia said he's used to alternating streets downtown being one-way.

"I think for the hometown people, it'd be a change to get adjusted to and potentially a safety hazard in the transition," he said. "If you have a complex of one-way streets downtown, people can figure out how to navigate around that and if you have a mixture, it might be a little confusing not only to the (hometown people), but to the visitors, that some streets are two way, some streets are one way, where now they're all universally the same.

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Heavisides pointed out that the reason Adams Street isn't being addressed further is because of the Third Street railroad tracks. Conversion would require new gate arms and with the anticipation that the railroad will be relocated in the next several years "it doesn't make sense to do that at this time," he said.

The cost of the project is $4.6 million, and the funding comes from through the increase of the state motor fuel tax.

Langfelder said he would like to have the project done by June 2023 but that is subject to supply chain demands.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.