In recent years, traffic volumes have increased at 71st Street and Mingo Road, and traffic congestion is common at the intersection. The intersection is two lanes on each approach and, surprisingly, does not have no-left-turn signs on 71st Street, where traffic jams can stretch up to a half mile in length during the afternoon hours. The 1985 sales tax is providing funds to widen 71st Street to six lanes between 90th East Avenue and the future Mingo Valley Expressway, including six lanes on 71st Street and four lanes on Mingo Road at the intersection, plus left- and right-turn lanes for each direction. The project is expected to be built in the late 1980s and be completed about the time the Mingo Valley Expressway extension opens between 51st and 71st streets. Besides some development on the southern corners, the only change here in recent years is a new traffic signal, which was installed in 1985. Photograph taken April 1986.
