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To Stop or Not to Stop?

To some, all-way stop signs are just another tap on their brakes as they drive through an area.

To others, they're a godsend, protecting a neighborhood's families and children who've made their home on streets others may deem shortcuts and speedways.

But the process for Richmond residents to slow traffic in their neighborhoods is anything from organized. Some Richmond neighborhood associations ask the police department for extra enforcement while others ask city traffic engineers to automatically install all-way stop signs. However, the most common response that actually gets something accomplished has been to ask your city council representative.

It's also led to some disagreement between council members, who want to appease their constituents, and city traffic engineers, who study the intersections and often feel that either nothing is needed or that there is not enough money available for the more appropriate and usually expensive fixes.

"As Richmond's neighborhoods are revitalizing and in some cases repopulating ... traffic concerns are increasingly an issue," said council president Bill Pantele (2nd).

A prime example of the issue occurred at Richmond City Council's meeting Monday night. There were three cases involving installing all-way stop signs in three different city districts. This time, despite the city's reservations, council did what their constituents wanted.

Councilman Chris Hilbert (3rd) had requested all-way stops be installed at the intersection of Rennie and Noble avenues in the Northside, but will likely withdraw his request after talking to the Department of Public Works, which worked with the neighbors to determine that speed humps were more appropriate and satisfied the neighbors.

After receiving a petition with signatures from 122 citizens, vice president and councilwoman Delores McQuinn (7th) requested all-way stops at the intersections of 21st and Venable streets, Venable and Jessamine streets and Venable and Tulip streets. But Gary DuVal , deputy director of transportation, said the city wouldn't recommend stop signs.

"In five years of study, there were only five accidents. Police said there were no speeding problems. We feel it's very safe," he told council.

Two residents told council a different story, noting instances of near-accidents with children and one case two years ago where a car hit a house built in 1850 and caused more than $60,000 worth of damage.

"I ask for your support. It's very important for us to provide a sense of safety for those who live there and frequent that area," McQuinn told her colleagues.

In the end, council approved the stop signs, but councilman Marty Jewell (5th) warned that he had seen situations where four-way stops caused more harm than good. Despite those concerns, he considered Venable Street a special case and voted in favor of the stops.

Jewell then changed course and refused to join his colleagues as they voted to override the mayor's vetoes against installing stop signs at the intersections of Pepper and Hanover avenues and Portland Place and Queen Charlotte Road in Bruce Tyler's (1st) West End district.

"Here we go again with these stop signs. The city administration and traffic engineer continuously said we need to look at other options," he said. "In most cases there are more problems with all-way stops, like people running into the back of cars. This seems to contradict city code, and I think we need to be careful about how we advance these when there may be other ways."

According to a presentation to council earlier this month from city traffic engineer Thomas Flynn , Jewell is right.

Flynn explained that all-way stop signs are a liability to the city because they go against the federal, state and city Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices when used as a traffic calming measure on low volume residential streets.

Even though they are perceived as safer by citizens, they don't generally reduce accidents or speed on the roads, according to city studies, and often cause more crashes because drivers don't stop as often.

However, they are cheap to install, costing only $1,500, but are more expensive to enforce, he said. The all-way stops will reduce accidents at intersection with sight distance problems, Flynn noted.

Flynn also proposed a process for dealing with all-way stop requests, which would be:

w  getting the endorsement of the civic association or 75 percent of the residents on the two blocks on either side of the new signs;

w  giving the Transportation Engineering Division 90 days to conduct a site visit, review three years of accident history and conduct a speed study; and

w  submitting the information to the petition/civic association and recommending against stop signs if the data indicated the intersection was safe and the speeds were appropriate.

But some council members criticized the process, saying it seemed to lead toward a "no" answer. Pantele commended Flynn's work and applauded him for going out and working with citizens, but said there have to be other tools in council's toolkit when they're limited every year by money on what traffic situation they can address.

Pantele said the all-ways stops are a good, temporary way of dealing with an issue that enough people consider to be a problem.

"Even if it's not the optimum outcome, they're a temporary and inexpensive mechanism to use until the city is in a position to respond to the needs," he said.

"When citizens are so concerned they would introduce legislation, I would hope the political leadership would respond."

One concern council's staff has is making sure that the signs are what everybody wants, Pantele said, which is why most council members usually require a certain number of signatures or the approval of the civic association.

At council's Monday meeting, councilwoman Kathy Graziano (4th) encouraged her colleagues to work with a traffic management department that's willing to come out and talk with citizens.

"If all else fails, the stop signs can be put in, but I believe it's in our best interest and the citizens' if we work through the system and traffic management," she said. "I suggest that when a citizen comes to us, prior to putting a paper in, we communicate with traffic management to come up with better solution."

Also at Monday's meeting, Pantele said he was sorry something as routine as a four-way stop would draw a mayor's veto, but added that the people always win.

"Years ago, the city's traffic department seriously suggested moving all the monuments on Monument Avenue to the side and proposed a six-lane highway on Monument Avenue to assist commuters getting in and out of downtown as smoothly and quickly as possible," he said.

"I know that (councilman Tyler) worked for pretty close to a year to go through the process. He was very patient. But we represent the people and when they're frustrated and have problems, we try to help them.

"Of course we try to work through the system, but when we're frustrated at the end of the day, we're going to take care of the people."