Four-way stop signs hit a roadblock

Although Hendersonville City Council members voted to remove the four-way stops from Main Street earlier this month, it won’t be any time soon that residents will see the signs come down.

City staff members are looking at a new design for Main Street, City Manager Bo Ferguson said Monday. “We are engaging the city’s engineering firm to develop a plan for Main Street,” he said. “We are hoping to have some kind of proposal for the Council by the end of this week.”

Ferguson said city officials are now looking at a scenario that will eliminate the overhead wires all the way down Main Street and reopen the crosswalks near businesses. The four-way stops will remain until a plan is finalized.

The stops were installed in the old section of the street in late November. Flashing red lights and decorative stop signs were also added after officials reconfigured downtown crosswalks and curbs.

City officials planned to keep the stop signs and traffic signals for 90 days, through Feb. 23. After that, the city planned to remove the traffic signals and continue the intersections as four-way stops, and review most of the overhead wiring and poles to be removed.

The total cost to install the four-way stops and other changes was $86,340, According to Hendersonville City Works Director Tom Wooten.

Ferguson said he did not have an estimate of what it would cost to remove the stops and other changes because he is waiting on a design plan from the engineers.

The city manager did say his staff was looking to maintain the left turns on Main Street, but it will be determined by the engineers if that will be safe once a new plan is devised.

“We are planning to transition without going back to the old lights,” Ferguson said.

Council members had mixed thoughts on returning to stop lights.

“Just the whole idea of flip-flopping around I know was aggravating to citizens and visitors,” Councilman Jeff Collis said. “Initially I liked the concept of four-way stops. I would like to see more of them used around town. After reading the reports we got, it didn’t look good. My decision to vote for the return of the stop lights was a combination of the reports and people. I cross Main Street every day for work and I see people walking in front of me and behind me. No one was following the correct direction.”

Councilman Bill O’Cain, a proponent of the four-way stops, said he felt the decision is now out of his hands.

“I think it was working fine despite the criticism of some citizens and business owners,” O’Cain said. “I was shocked that the Council made the decision without a full Council.”

Mayor Greg Newman was not present at the last meeting when the decision was made.

“I read all three studies done and the biggest problem they outlined was pedestrians walking wherever they wanted. That could have been easily been remedied. I will be talking to the mayor about this.”

Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Volk said she liked the four-way stops as a driver, but realized the danger to pedestrians.

“Any time I was downtown, there were people crossing behind the barricades and I didn’t know how to stop them,” she said. “The safest way was to go back to the stop lights.”

Councilman Steve Caraker said it was all about safety when he voted to switch back to stop lights.

“My primary concern was safety,” Caraker said. “When I read the original reports it was common sense to me to switch back. I asked for the professionals’ opinions during the trial period and they all were clear that the four-way stops were a poor decision for Main Street.”