"People cut through our parking lot to get to Market Street," says Tom Butler, owner of Burkland's Flowers in Boardman.

And given how long the wait can be where Market Street, Shields Road and Brookwood Road all meet, he understands why.

"It's only an extra minute but it seems like a really long time when you're in a hurry," he says. 

While Butler and his staff are busy making arrangements for customers each day, ODOT has been busy trying to make arrangements for a safer intersection.

"I guess there have been quite a few accidents," Butler said. In fact, ODOT ranks the intersection 50th in its Highway Safety Improvement Program for suburban intersections due to high crash frequencies.

"Anytime you have an intersection with a fifth leg, it just makes it a little more awkward for motorists," says ODOT District 4 spokesperson Justin Chesnic.

The answer in ODOT's mind - closing off the end of Brookwood and making it into a cul-de-sac - leaving only Market and Shields as the cross streets. 

"If you cul-de-sac Brookwood there, then you have a traditional four way intersection and things typically run more smoothly through there," Chesnic said.

ODOT will first put up barriers for three months starting in March and look at traffic flow on that street and ones nearby.
Then it'll open Brookwood back up in June and in the meantime, take the information gathered during the closure and figure out how to move forward.

But while Butler isn't necessarily against the idea, he does have concerns.

"If they close off that end then we're just going to end up with more traffic going through our parking lot," he said.

An arrangement that could make more traffic a thorn in the side of a business in full bloom.