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Fred Morris, Vo Huang and Howard Norris at Logan Avenue. A new concrete meridian on Logan has prevented eastbound traffic from turning into the Logan Square strip mall at Logan and McPhillips. (PHOTO BY ROB BROWN)

A new median on Logan Avenue near McPhillips Street is causing frustration for drivers, area business and customers who use the intersection.

"It totally sucks," said Eric Lusty.

Mike Jadick was even more succinct.

"(It’s) dumb," he said.

Fred Morris was recently driving to the Robin’s Donuts outlet in Logan Square and said the new traffic configuration caused him no end of headaches.

A new concrete meridian on Logan now prevents eastbound traffic from turning into the mall at Logan and McPhillips.

"It was a disaster," he said. "It’s a complicated for drivers and restricts access."

The owners of the Robin’s location have started a petition calling  for the city to restore access from eastbound Logan into the strip mall. More than 200 customers and commuters have already signed the petition.

Elgin Avenue resident Brittany Garnett said the number of accidents and near-misses have increased since the barrier was installed.

Garnett said she hopes the city can come up with a better solution before a more serious accident occurs.

"Too many accidents have happened since it has been put in," she said.

Area resident Ben Horsfall said the median "is a waste of taxpayer dollars."

Horsfall the intersection handles a high volume of commercial truck traffic and needs to be as confusion-free as possible.

City spokesperson Tammy Melesko said the median was installed to provide a protected left turn lane for eastbound drivers on Logan wishing to turn onto northbound McPhillips.

Melesko said the changes have helped improve the flow of traffic through the intersection.

"It has the added benefit of preventing vehicles travelling eastbound on Logan Avenue from accidentally making the dangerous maneuver into the property at the northwest corner of Logan and McPhillips."

Morris said the city needs to take immediate action to address the concerns of drivers and area business owners.

"This matter should be on a February community committee agenda. There should be a discussion about this decision and a wider discussion about the entire intersection and what is going on there overall," he said.

"Quite simply nobody likes what’s going on there now."

Melesko acknowledged that there was no prior consultation with area stakeholders since the changes didn’t impact on the permitted function of approaches to any properties on Logan.

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