BROOKINGS – The Brookings City Council approved permanently keeping stop signs that have been in place all summer at 22nd Avenue South and 32nd Street South. 

The vote was part of the consent agenda at Tuesday’s meeting.

Since the north side of the intersection is in the City of Brookings’ jurisdiction and the south side is in the jurisdiction of Brookings County, said Mayor Keith Corbett, Brookings County commissioners will also need to approve the signs staying.

The signs were installed in June because construction on Sixth Street and 22nd Avenue was diverting traffic south and giving the intersection much more traffic than it normally carried, increasing traffic delays and making for dangerous conditions. The commissioners raised the idea of having the signs put up, Corbett said.

It was originally a two-way stop, with signs posted for the northbound and southbound lanes of 22nd Avenue South; the cross traffic on 32nd Avenue did not stop. This confused drivers, Sheriff Marty Stanwick said at the time. 

“Some of the issues they were having was that they were stopping and proceeding forward thinking the other cars were going to stop, but then they didn’t because they had the right of way,” Stanwick said.

The confusion increased the likelihood of accidents.

In about one month’s time, there were two accidents at the intersection, including one on June 19, just before the east/west stop signs with flashing lights were installed on 32nd Street South. “Stop Ahead” warning signs were placed ahead of the stop signs, and deputies were also on hand the day they were installed to attract drivers’ attention to the new signs. Even then, some drivers nearly drove all the way through the intersection without stopping. 

City Engineer Jackie Lanning said in June that a traffic study would be done to determine if the signs should be made permanent. 

“City staff found that the evergreen trees in the northeast corner of the intersection have grown wider and taller since the previous traffic study, and they hinder the visibility of southbound vehicles as they look to the east. A typical vehicle approaching the intersection southbound is required to drive ahead of the stop sign to have better visibility to the east,” according to an attachment to the council’s Oct. 24 agenda available on the city’s website.

Staff determined that drivers could not see cross traffic and were not able to negotiate the intersection unless the cross traffic was also required to stop. 

“In addition, the intersection has been functioning well since the temporary stop signs were installed,” according to the attachment. 

The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee discussed this topic at its Oct. 12 meeting and voted unanimously to keep the four-way stop signs, and also recommended that flashing stop signs be installed, which would need to be included in the budget. 

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.