Harvard Avenue Looking South at I-44, Image B

              Traffic congestion is a thing of the past on Harvard Avenue at I-44, as the street has doubled in size as a result of the I-44 widening project in the area. The street now has 10 lanes under the bridge compared to five in the old design. There are three lanes both directions for through traffic and dual left-turn lanes at the I-44 frontage road on the north and 51st Street on the south, which help traffic clear out for each cycle instead of the good old days when it always was congested. The width of the street required extra signal poles to contain all of the lights instead of one lone mast arm from the outside of the street. In addition to the intersection, the access ramps for eastbound I-44 traffic were revised. A combination entrance/exit ramp has been built at 51st Street and Marion Avenue for accessing I-44. As a result, the old eastbound entrance ramp on Harvard just north of 51st Street has been removed, as has the exit ramp near 51st Street and Delaware Avenue. The project took about two years to build, as work began in 2009 and was completed in the fall of 2011. The bridge's shadow gives somewhat of a "widescreen" effect. Photo taken November 11, 2011.