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Traffic changes ahead for A & E intersection

Intersection to become a 4-way stop to address safety concerns
Traffic changes ahead for A & E intersection
The CTH A and E intersection sourth of Medford will see changes as the county highway comiission rejected a call for a roundabout and instead opted to make it a four-way stop. MANDEE ELLIS/THE STAR NEWS
Traffic changes ahead for A & E intersection
The CTH A and E intersection sourth of Medford will see changes as the county highway comiission rejected a call for a roundabout and instead opted to make it a four-way stop. MANDEE ELLIS/THE STAR NEWS

A four-way stop is coming to the intersection of CTH A and E.

Members of the Taylor County Highway Committee on August 20 approved making the intersection into a 4-way stop in response to citizen complaints and the number of crashes and near misses that have occurred there in the past decade.

According to highway commissioner Ben Stanfley, there have been six reported crashes at the intersection in the past 10 years. He said one of those crashes involved someone not stopping at all at the stop signs on CTH E, while the rest involved drivers stopping but then continuing into the intersection. Most recently a motorist ended up in the hospital with serious injuries after swerving to miss a vehicle going through the intersection and ending up in the ditch.

Resident Fawn Szydel began a petition drive to call on the county to take action to improve safety at the intersection, specifically calling on the county to install a roundabout at the intersection in place of the stop signs on CTH E. That petition gathered 577 signatures.

Stanfley said he brought the issue to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and a traffic study was done on the intersection, updating one done several years ago. In 2018, the traffic on CTH E was 1,200 vehicles per day and on CTH A at the intersection there 640 vehicles per day. A study completed in the past month found that while traffic on CTH E has increased to 1,500 vehicle per day, the traffic on CTH A has dropped to 600 vehicles a day. Based on the traffic disparity, the state traffic engineers initially recommended that the stop signs be switched from having CTH E stop to having CTH A stop.

Committee members and Stanfley said they felt this would create even more traffic safety problems.

Stanfley presented the four-way stop as an alternative. He noted that there is still the potential of people running the stop sign, but by having everyone come to a stop at the intersection, the innocent drivers who obey the traffic laws and stop at the sign can watch for traffic will have a chance to see if people are barreling toward the intersection and decide to not pull out.

Szydel said she felt a roundabout would be the best solution and noted the others who signed her petition thought so as well. She noted that it was better to have fender benders in a roundabout than having more severe collisions occur.

About a half dozen area residents, including family members of the motorist recently injured at a crash there, said the crash data gave an incomplete picture of the problem with the intersection saying they have observed many drivers on CTH E disregarding the stop sign entirely or doing rolling stops. “People are going to die there. Do they have to die before anything gets done?” asked one the residents.

Residents offered suggestions including installing speed bumps on the road to slow drivers to a stop to one suggesting that area neighbors may take matters into their own hands and dig out a section of road to force people to completely stop to drive around it. Others called out the lack of traffic enforcement saying they have not see deputies in the area in more than a month. Others asked about having cameras mounted on the stop signs to photograph people going through the stop sign and mailing them tickets.

Stanfley said to his knowledge it is illegal in Wisconsin for the county to do that, noting the county highway commissioners have been lobbying the state to have speed enforcement cameras with no results. He also said there would be people who complained locally over concerns that their rights were being violated.

Other residents suggested removing additional trees from the area to increase visibility for drivers.

Szydel said she felt a roundabout was the best option. Szydel gave the example of a roundabout south of Marshfield was where the speed limit is 45 mph. She said getting everyone to slow down as they go through would be better than having crashes and people getting injured.

Stanfley explained that the state has said they would not consider putting in a roundabout or providing funding to the county for a roundabout there. This would mean that county taxpayers would have to pay the entire estimated $2 million cost. He said the county gives the highway department $3.1 million a year for the road and it would be impractical to use two-thirds of it on one roundabout. In addition, he said the land requirements needed to install a roundabout would likely require the A&E Tavern to be torn down if one was to go in.

“The economics aint’ there,” Stanfley said. He said a four-way stop would at least give people on CTH A a chance.

In making it a four-way stop, the stop signs would be flagged, new rumble strips would be added on CTH O and the ones on CTH E would be redone. In addition there would be more signs on CTH A alerting people of the new traffic controls.

Committee member Darrell Thompson supported going with the four-way stop describing it as a place to start. However, he said it is everyone who is behind the wheel to be responsible for traffic safety. He said there are those who will disregard any sign that is put up.

With the committee’s go-ahead, Stanfley said they will need to order the signs and get them installed. He said he expected it to be done within the month.

Szydel again called on the county to put in a roundabout. “I have 577 people who are more for a roundabout than a four-way stop,” she said, Committee chair Jim Gebauer noted there were many intersections around the county with similar problems. He noted he lives not far from one of them where people are constantly running through the stop signs.

Thompson agreed and said it is a matter of people not adhering to the traffic signs and risking their own lives and someone else’s.

“You can only do so much,” Thompson said. In approving the four-way stop, committee member Tim Hansen also asked Stanfley to look into traffic control cameras.

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