By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – Safety is a primary reason for the re-organization of traffic downtown on weekends, according to the Bloomington Police Department.

Starting Thursday, the 500 block of North Main will be open to normal traffic, except taxis will have designated spots on the east side of the block from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The 500 block on North Center will be open only to shuttles.

“Many safety concerns have been brought to our attention through various different sources as we’ve identified that the vehicles and the pedestrians in the area are at a greater risk where they were currently parking,” BPD Assistant Chief Ken Bays said.

Bays explained police will have increased ability to monitor pedestrian traffic with the new system.

“Congestion won’t be as much because they won’t be pinned into that sidewalk by those large buses,” said Bays. “Also, it’ll increase our visibility of the crowds as they’re clearing, so that we can respond to a problem, rather than have to go around large buses and work our way in from the north or south to get to the problem.”

Bays added adds Uber drivers, and other ride sharing services, are included in those who have have spots in the 500 block of North Main.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].