Severe traffic congestion has been eliminated following the widening of Yale Avenue to six lanes between 71st and 81st streets. The street is six lanes with a left-turn median. The project included leveling some of the hills and building several retaining walls, similar to what was done on 71st Street between Lewis and Harvard avenues in the late 1990s. The three southbound lanes continue through the 81st Street intersection, and the street then narrows to two lanes. The northbound left lane becomes a second left-turn lane at 71st Street, as Yale Avenue is four lanes from there to 61st Street. Funded by the 1996 sales tax, construction began in 2005 and was completed in 2006. The completion of this project leaves only the section between 81st and 91st streets two lanes, as the section between 91st Street and the Creek Turnpike also was completed in 2006. Photograph taken October23, 2007.
