At its October 29, 2014 meeting the Traffic Operations Committee voted to recommend to the City Council adoption of a comprehensive stop and yield sign warrant. If it is adopted by the City Council, the combined warrant would replace the existing three and four-way stop and yield sign warrants that were adopted in 1979 and the more recently updated two-way stop control warrant.
Under the proposed policy stop signs will only be considered at intersections that meet at least one of three criteria. The first criterion is that the more heavily traveled street at the intersection experiences a minimum of 500 vehicles per day or 50 vehicles during the peak hour of any average day and the minor street experiences at least 50 percent of the same volume of traffic. The second criterion is that the intersection includes one street that has been designated by the City Council as a through street and the intersecting minor street does not already have a stop or yield sign in place. The streets designated as through streets are Tenth Street, Pomona Avenue, Ocean Boulevard including Dana Place, and Alameda Boulevard. This criterion is essentially moot since the municipal code (Section 56.16.010) requires the City Engineer to erect and maintain stop signs on each and every street intersecting the designated through streets and stop signs presently exist at all of the intersections with the through streets. The third criterion is that the intersection has experienced three or more accidents within a one-year period that could have been avoided by the existence of a stop sign.
Below Right: Stop Sign at the Intersection of B Avenue and Sixth Street: Traffic on both B and C Avenues is controlled by stop signs at every intersection from First Street to Orange Avenue. Installation of stop signs at every intersection would not be allowed under the proposed policy. They could be no closer together than every other block.
The proposed policy goes on to state that no new stop signs will be considered, if they would be located within 800 feet of an existing stop sign along the same path of travel and that no new stop signs will be placed on the designated through streets. Since the majority of the blocks within the village are approximately 580 feet long and 380 feet wide, the first of these criteria will preclude the addition of a stop sign within a block of an existing stop sign along the same path of travel, which is the intention of this provision of the proposed policy.
In order to qualify for a two-way stop on the minor road at an intersection, two of the foregoing criteria need to be satisfied or the intersection needs to meet one of the foregoing criteria and at least one of four other criteria. The first of these other criteria is that the principal street of the intersection has a minimum daily traffic volume of 1,000 vehicles or 100 vehicles per hour during the peak hour of an average day and the minor street experiences at least 50 percent of the same volume. Alternatively, the intersection has to have experienced five or more accidents in a two-year period that could have been avoided if there had been a stop sign. This is a change to the current warrant, which requires the accidents to be experienced in a 12-month period rather than a two-year period. The third criterion relates to the lack of visibility at the intersection and is satisfied if an approaching driver cannot see an object in the intersection from a distance of 155 feet or more. This criterion is not satisfied at most of the intersections in the village because the majority of the streets intersect at 90 degrees and the roads are relatively flat. Streets that curve or that are on a hill may meet this criterion by obstructing the visibility at an intersection to an approaching driver. The fourth criterion is that the principal street of the intersection experiences over 6,000 vehicles per day.
The criteria for a three or four-way stop are more stringent. In addition to the minimum requirements for a stop, they require at least one of three additional criteria to be satisfied. The first of these criteria is that the total traffic volume including pedestrians and cyclists entering the intersection from all approaches needs to average 300 per hour in any eight hour period and the volume on the minor street needs to account for at least two-thirds of the total traffic volume. The current warrant requires the volume on the minor street to be only one-third of the total volume of traffic entering the intersection during the eight hour period. The second criterion is that the intersection experienced five, versus six in the present policy, or more accidents within a one-year period that could have been avoided by stop signs. The final criterion is that at least one approach to the intersection on the principal street lacks adequate visibility, as explained above. Finally, the proposed policy eliminates special consideration for residential streets, which allowed the required traffic volumes at the intersection to be reduced by 60 percent, if a set of additional criteria were satisfied.
The proposed warrant further states that yield signs may be considered at an intersection in lieu of a two-way stop when both the traffic volume on the principal street at the intersection is at least 375 vehicles per day or more than 37 vehicles per hour during the peak hour and the minor street experiences 50 percent of the same volume and the intersection has experienced two or more accidents within a one-year period that could have been avoided by a yield sign. Finally, the proposed policy states that engineering judgment “should always be utilized to identify unique conditions that might affect the feasibility of stop and yield signs in addition to the specific criteria contained within this policy.”
In response to this article please indicate whether you think that the city should be more liberal or conservative in erecting new stop signs. If you believe that more stop signs are needed, identify where you think they should be installed. Also, identify any stop signs that you feel should be removed.
John Tato
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
