Traffic flow at 51st Street and Yale Avenue improved substantially in 1992 following completion of a Yale Avenue widening project that included additional improvements at 51st Street.The section of Yale Avenue between I-44 and 61st Street was widened to six lanes with a left-turn median through a project funded by the 1985 sales tax. The project included several improvements at the 51st Street intersection in addition to the extra through lanes on Yale Avenue. Yale Avenue received a northbound right-turn lane, while 51st Street received new concrete approaches containing dual left-turn lanes and a right-turn lane for eastbound traffic. The original approaches, which were built in 1980 as part of the 51st Street widening project between Marion Avenue and Memorial Drive, contained a single left-turn lane, four through lanes and a westbound right-turn lane. Southbound traffic on Yale Avenue did not receive a right-turn lane because most southbound traffic wanting to travel west in the area turns right on the westbound I-44 access road, located near 46th Street. The access road intersects Harvard Avenue just north of 51st Street. The improvements have made traffic jams a thing of the past at 51st Street and Yale Avenue, and no additional improvements are planned at this intersection. In the background are Warren Place (which blocks the Resource Science Center from view) and improved intersections on Yale Avenue at 71st Street (top of hill) and 61st Street. Photo taken May 1993.
