Dangerous Intersection Gets Extra Stop Signs: Increasing Traffic a Reason for Change

By Jane Hawes, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Feb. 25–DELAWARE, Ohio — The intersection where Rts. 37 and 203 and Section Line Road all meet west of Delaware has always defied logic.

You could call it a four-way stop now that the state added two more stop signs to the two already in place, but that would be an insult to simple four-way stops everywhere.

“When I drive up Section Line, I never know if I should put my blinker on because I don’t know if the other drivers will understand which way I’m going to go,” said Julie Long, who lives north of the intersection on Hills Miller Road.

The crossroads looks like a number 7 with a “Y” on top of it, and it has long been a source of frustration and danger for local motorists.

On Thursday, state transportation officials added the two additional stop signs, hoping to reduce the number of crashes there.

Since 2001, the intersection has experienced an average of 6 crashes each year. A fatality occurred there in 2005. That coupled with an increasing volume of traffic prompted the addition of the new stop signs, a state official said.

Traffic volume was another factor in the decision.

“The traffic numbers had increased (in all) directions to the point where it was about equal so we were able to put in a fourway stop,” said Michael Stout, spokesman for Ohio Department of Transportation.

The number of vehicles driving through the intersection increased 38 percent between 1994 and 2004, according to ODOT traffic statistics. In 1994, 4,140 cars and trucks crossed the site each day. Two years ago, the numbers were up to 5,710, and likely have increased since then because of new housing construction in the area.

“That is a strange intersection,” said Sgt. Rick Downey of the State Highway Patrol, which has primary jurisdiction over the site because it features two state routes.

“It’s dangerous because some people assumed the other street would have a stop sign and it wouldn’t. It’s basically people not paying attention,” Downey said.

It would be hard not to pay attention now. Once a picturesque dimple in an agrarian landscape, the intersection, still bordered by farm fields and barns, now features a slew of traffic-regulating devices in addition to the stop signs. There are flashing red lights strung overhead, waist-high white poles and, for a few weeks at least, portable message signs telling motorists to “stop ahead.”

Long said she welcomes the change. And though she wonders if a stoplight wouldn’t be safer, she acknowledges that the geometry of the site probably ruled that option out.

“They had to do something,” Long said. “It’s been dangerous for so long.”

Capt. Scott Vance of the Delaware County sheriff’s office, which also has responded to crashes at the intersection, said there will be an adjustment period.

“Whenever a traffic pattern changes, there always seems to be some time delay from when it goes up to when people notice it,” Vance said.

JaneEHawes@cs.com

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