Closing Virginia Street at one end makes no sense

The change in traffic flow that was discussed at a March meeting has been approved by the county. The plan is to change the flow of traffic in the Center Grove, more on that here.

As part of the plan, Virginia Street is to be closed at one end. Word on the street is that the length of Virginia from the traffic circle at Shipping to Grand Avenue is being closed. Not true, as you can see by the image above, it will be the area by the Bookstore at Grand. The rest of the street will be open.

It needs to be open to allow traffic in and out of the CocoWalk garage and the Mayfair Hotel, not to mention the fire trucks on Oak.

While this may seem like a consolation, we still don't like it. Why is a major artery going in and out of the Grove being closed? Traffic is only going to back up into the neighborhoods. Just yesterday as I sat at a meeting at the Bookstore, I saw an ambulance and then a fire truck go by at two separate times -- right down Virginia, passed the Bookstore onto Grand. Isn't this going to be a safety issue to close down Virginia at one end?

It's stupid. Don't do it. Sure, a plaza is pretty, but backed up traffic is not, we are trying to get people into the Grove, not keep them out, which this will do. Aren't the merchants suffering enough?