MAUMEE, Ohio — The traffic study is over for Conant Street in Maumee and just two lanes still remain.
City council voted unanimously to approve the change to one lane in each direction uptown this week.
For the last few months, drivers through Maumee have had to adjust to just one lane in each direction on Conant Street. Some aren't happy with it.
"Rush hour and everything, I honestly try to avoid the entire area," Caitlin Williams said, who commutes to work at Amity Ink in uptown Maumee. "I will take the side streets as opposed to being forced to sit inside an intersection."
"I think it's been a little more challenging just to get through so I definitely think it's been worse," Maumee resident Jack McGuire said.
But Mayor Richard Carr said while they found out more cars are driving through the city, fewer semi-trucks are rolling by and businesses are seeing more people walking around.
"Think it will be better for this area down here," The Village Idiot owner John Schafer said, "and I think, of course you want it to be better for business, but I think it will be better for everyone, just to walk down here bike down here, just a little more room."
Carr noted the change has caused some issues, including more traffic on side streets and cars blocking intersections. But the city is addressing each of them, including changing the timing on two problematic traffic lights.
"If we can get the timing changed on that light on Broadway, we think it will greatly improve the traffic flow," he said.
The white cones that have taken up the old second lane will be removed and the sidewalks will be expanded. And Carr believes these changes will create a better uptown Maumee in just the next three to five years.
"We have had a couple of microbreweries express interest," Carr said. "We've had a restaurant indicate some interest in coming in as well. So they're seeing these changes and they're seeing the possibilities of what can be done."
Some artist renderings were released of what the uptown could look like in the next few years. Some additions include rooftop dining, wider sidewalks, street festivals.
Carr says this will help make Maumee a a destination and no longer just a drive through.