More Stop Sign Changes for Minot
MINOT – Four-ways, two-ways, all-ways, runways. It can get confusing at times. More stop signs for Main Street and downtown Minot are in order.
The Minot City Council voted Monday to change three downtown intersections from two-way stop controls to all-way stop controls.
The three intersections were Main Street South and First Avenue South, Main Street South and Third Avenue South, and First Street Southeast and Second Avenue Southeast.
“Each of these three intersections has view obstruction concerns due to limited building setbacks, parked vehicles, and roadway incline, as well as anecdotally operating as false all-way stops at times due to the constrained and busy nature of the intersections,” city staff stated in the downtown intersection traffic control memo.
The city also said in the memo it is considering changing the intersections of First Street Southwest and Third Avenue Southwest, First Street East and East Central Avenue, and Second Street Southeast and Second Avenue Southeast.
“We reviewed every single intersection downtown, whether that’s a two-way stop, four-way stop, whether we should change that or keep it the same,” said Traffic Engineer Stephen Joersz. “Three of them were already all-way stops, and I’m going to say three of them were on the fence of moving from a two-way stop to an all-way. We think with a little more growth and a little more activity they would reach that standpoint.”
Joersz said at First Street East and East Central Avenue there has been an increase in pedestrian activity, so for now the city is planning to create a painted bump-out, which would shorten the crosswalk for pedestrians.
“The painted bump-out versus the concrete bump-out, it’s a lot cheaper to do the painted bump-out,” said Joersz. “It’s more of a visual deterrent than a physical barrier. We’re trying to improve safety with that. We wanted to see how the painted bump-out would work. If it works great, great. If we need to improve on that and convert it into an all-way stop, we can certainly do that.”
“Those downtown intersections are very busy and there’s a lot going on,” said Alderman Stephan Podrygula. “It’s not clear who’s supposed to stop and who’s not supposed to stop. I really appreciate the traffic engineer following up on that.”
