On Tuesday Massac County Highway Engineer Joe Metesevac joined WMOK for Coffee Break to begin WMOKs 3-Part Series on the 4 Way Stop coming to the North Avenue – Country Club Road intersection.
Metesevac told WMOK that there has been conversation regarding a four way stop for some time however the Massac County Commissioners brought it back to the forefront following an accident involving a school bus at the intersection earlier in January.
Metesevac said that when implementing a multi-way stop an engineering study must be done on the intersection to make sure that the project is warranted.
During his study Metesevac found that there are some conditions that are close or meet criteria to warrant a 4 way stop at the intersection.
Traffic Numbers
Metesevac said that while the intersection is busy for Massac County – based on intersections and traffic control in general – it is not what would be called a ‘busy intersection’. On average approximately 300 vehicles per hour go through the intersection. Guidelines state that a multi-way stop may be considered at the traffic point of 300 vehicles per hour.
Number of Crashes
Metesevac said guidance suggests that if there are 5 or more crashes at the location in a 12 month period that a multi-way stop would be warranted.
In the last 12 month period there have been 8 crashes at the intersection of North Avenue and Country Club Road – however the numbers haven’t been as high during the preceding few years.
Metesevac said that there were “quite a few” wrecks there in 2019 and one in 2020. Since 2019 there have been 15 crashes at the intersection.
Metesevac said that there was some room for a different decision following the study as some criteria was right on the line.
Following the results of the study, Metesevac said that the plans proceeded with the support of the Massac County Commissioners and the Massac County Sheriff’s Department.
Metesevac said that there probably will continue to be accidents at the intersection due to drivers who don’t pay attention while driving – but he hopes that it will cut down on the wrecks or at least the seriousness and speed of the crashes.
He stressed that the only thing that will make a difference is for drivers to pay attention.
Metesevac said that from a logistical standpoint there is nothing about the design of the intersection, sight or distance restrictions, geometric conditions or otherwise that would cause drivers to have a conflict there other than they are not paying attention when they need to be paying attention.
Signage is on the way for the project and about a week before the stop signs go in place message boards will be placed on North Avenue traveling North and South. The county is renting one board and the Metropolis Police Department has loaned their message board to the county for the project. The message boards will remain in place for at least a week following the installation of the signs as an additional warning measure that a stop sign is ahead.
Red Flashing beacons will also be placed at all four stop signs and stop ahead signs with yellow flashing beacons will be placed leading up to the 4 way stop.
Metesevac said that folks who “know the rules of the road and pay attention while driving should have zero problems in knowing and seeing that the signs are ahead”.
Community suggestions were plentiful on social media. Metesevac told WMOK that some of the ideas listed in the commentary were ideas that they had looked at as a solution – however they felt logistically the four-way stop would be the most effective.
The project is expected to cost around $6000. The cost of the Beacons is around $2000 each – of which two are needed for North Avenue. There are already Beacons present on the Country Club Road stop signs.
The conversation about the 4 Way Stop continues on WMOK’s Coffee Break Tuesday February 7 as the Massac County Commissioners join us to discuss this and other county business.
Hear the portion of our Coffee Break with Metesevac in which we discussed the 4 way stop below:
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