Initial steps have been taken to increase safety at an intersection west of Clifford where a local teenager died.
New 30-inch stop signs with flashing LED lights will be installed along County Road 550N where it intersects with Marr Road, said Danny Hollander, Bartholomew County highway engineer.
The new signs could be up within a week at the intersection, where north and southbound traffic on Marr Road is allowed to go through uninterrupted while all east-west drivers on 550N have stop signs, Hollander said.
Besides the solar-powered stop signs, additional rumble strips will be added to 550N west of the intersection, commissioners chairman Larry Kleinhenz said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Commissioner Rick Flohr said he has seen these types of large, flashing stop signs, which cost about $1,000 each, used in other areas of southern Indiana.
“If you don’t see that sign, your mind is somewhere other than driving,” Flohr said.
“They really get your attention.”
Monday’s decision came four weeks after Vicki Cooper, who resides in the Clifford area, warned the commissioners about the dangers of the intersection that she said has been the site of many crashes.
One of them occurred shortly before midnight on March 24, 2016, when a three-vehicle crash claimed the life of Keegan L. Phillips, 17, of Columbus, and injured three other teens.
Phillips was driving east on County Road 550N and stopped at the stop sign at Marr Road before pulling into the path of a sports utility vehicle that was traveling south on Marr. The impact of the initial crash forced the SUV into the path of an oncoming northbound vehicle.
On April 2, Cooper told the commissioners that most traffic on Marr Road goes through the intersection at a much higher speed than the posted 45 mph limit.
The existing rumble strips on Road 550N are too worn down to be effective, and the flashers that warn drivers about the upcoming stop don’t work half the time, Cooper said.
When asked by the commissioners what she would recommend, Cooper said Clifford residents would like a roundabout, but would be happy with a four-way stop.
In the past, residents other than Cooper who have voiced similar safety concerns about the intersection, commissioner Rick Flohr said Monday.
Although there are times of congestion during the day, Hollander said the latest 24-hour traffic count doesn’t warrant a four-way stop at the intersection. That count showed that:
2,901 vehicles went north on Marr
1,834 went south on Marr
1,656 went west on 550N
368 went east on 550N.
On Monday, Kleinhenz said he worries that a four-way stop could cause a backup of northbound traffic on Marr Road.
Roundabouts are both expensive and unpopular with local motorists, commissioner Carl Lienhoop said four weeks earlier.
However, the commissioners agreed Monday to keep their options open until after the Indiana Department of Transportation completes a safety audit of the intersection and issues its recommendations.
“The bottom line is that we are trying to improve dangerous intersections in Bartholomew County,” Kleinhenz said.
During the April 2 meeting, Cooper also said that semi-tractor trailers and large trucks parked outside the white, unmarked building at the intersection’s southeast corner obstruct the view of many residents attempting to get through the intersection.
That same concern was echoed during the same meeting by Columbus-Bartholomew County Planning Director Jeff Bergman.
