Sports Utility Vehicle Denver

Downtown rush hour weathers first Summer Nights with few problems

Despite fears of major traffic snarls downtown, the first Summer Nights festival apparently went off without a major glitch.

Main Street between Sixth and Seventh streets had been scheduled to close at 2:30 p.m., but in preparation for the night, Rapid City police delayed the closure until 3 p.m. Traffic was reduced to two outside lanes in the block west of Fifth Street to divert vehicles either north or south on Sixth Street.

Traffic may have seemed more congested in the downtown area, but the downtown closure caused few traffic problems, police said.

From noon until 9 p.m., the city recorded only six traffic accidents, and only two of those involved possible injuries, according to Sgt. Sue Fox. By comparison, on Thursday, June 2, police responded to three injury accidents and eight non-injury accidents during the same time frame.

To help with rush-hour traffic, officers stood sentinel at the traffic signals at the intersections of Omaha and Fifth streets and Main and Fifth streets from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The officer on duty at the Omaha intersection discovered that allowing an extra 15 seconds for the left-hand turn arrow from Fifth Street onto Omaha kept traffic moving well, Lt. Peter Ragnone said.

"Traffic moved as smooth as expected," Ragnone said.

There was a three-car fender bender at the intersection of Fifth and St. Joseph streets about 5:15 p.m.

Two southbound sport utility vehicles had cleared the intersection but were stopped by heavy traffic when a third car drove into the back of the second vehicle, forcing it into the lead vehicle.

One person was taken to the hospital with a neck injury, Ragnone said.

Terry Broadley, 31, of Belle Fourche was driving the third car. Broadley told officers he turned to watch the traffic on St. Joseph Street and did not realize the cars in front of him had stopped.

Broadley was cited for careless driving, driving under suspension, no insurance and using substitute license plates.

"It's been a quite night," Fox said.

As for the outdoor party, even though rain clouds lurked in the distance, the sun made a brief appearance, and the evening stayed cool and dry.

Families, couples and singles mingled and listened to the music of Dirty Word. The band was situated across the intersection Main and Seventh streets.

Tempting odors drifted from the numerous food vendors. Children scrambled to ride in a miniature street train or begged for a brightly colored balloon.

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“We have great management now and we have a good football coach. It’s really about the guys on the field picking up what the philosophies that Coach Fox will bring in and how we are going to approach the games. We’ve been through a rough two years and there are a lot of players that are still going to be here, so I know a lot of guys want to get that taste out of their mouths. (Winning) is going to happen a lot sooner than people think.

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