Increased traffic at St. Louis Avenue warrants the installation of a four-way stop at its intersection with Fountain Road, city officials said Friday.
Joplin and Webb City officials agreed to change the intersection from a two-way stop, said David Hertzberg, Joplin’s public works director. The change is intended to alleviate long waits for drivers stopped on Fountain Road waiting to cross or turn onto St. Louis Avenue. St. Louis has been the through street there.
“Last winter, we did a traffic safety study,” Hertzberg said. “It didn’t meet the requirements for a four-way stop then so we wanted to continue to monitor it,” Hertzberg said. “This summer we did another study and it showed the traffic volumes that warranted a four-way stop,” but not enough for a traffic signal.
The study showed that 880 vehicles an hour go through the area at peak times.
“With the Zora and Main Street interchange project in the northern part of Joplin and the ongoing construction work in southern Webb City, traffic patterns have changed along these corridors,” Hertzberg said.
Hertzberg said the cities follow criteria set by the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to decide which type of traffic control is needed. Increased traffic was noted because road work on North Main Street Road in Joplin and in Webb City is going on. The installation of a four-way stop will help increase safety in the area, he said.
“We will continue to monitor the intersection to see if there are other changes as time goes on,” Hertzberg said.
He said the traffic patterns may change again after the Zora and Main streets interchange is completed and Zora Street reopens west of St. Louis Avenue.
“We feel this is the best direction for the next two years,” until that interchange is complete. Hertzberg said that the installation of traffic signals at the intersection would cost $300,000.
Motorists will soon see signs informing them that the stop signs are coming for traffic on St. Louis Avenue. A cautionary yellow light also will be installed in advance of the intersection to let drivers know they are approaching the stop.
The stops will go into effect the first part of October.
On the line
The west side of the intersection is in the Joplin city limits and the east side is in Webb City’s.
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Four-way stop to be installed at Fountain and St. Louis
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