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There have been new stop signs placed along 72nd Avenue in Grand Forks to minimize the number of vehicles speeding through the street.
The three-way stop signs were recently put up at the intersection of 72nd Avenue and Cypress Way after multiple complaints about speeding vehicles and the dangers it caused in the neighbourhood.
“Throughout this year we’ve been receiving complaints about speeders on 72nd Avenue, in between 27th Street and 19th Street,” said Hal Wright, the City of Grand Forks’ manager of operations. “We have the street park on one side and Extra Foods on the other side, and there were some concerned residents in the area, as well as an RCMP request for signage.”
In correspondence with the city, police noted that 72nd Avenue was like a perceived drag strip that was created between the grocery store all the way down to the local skate park.
Grand Forks RCMP was contacted but was unable to respond by press time.
Wright noted the location of the new stop signs, between 19th and 22nd Streets, represented the midway point of 72nd Avenue, which until that point was a long stretch of road without any signs for traffic control.
There was also consideration given to the opening of the Silver Kettle Village and the increase of traffic that would occur.
“We thought it would be opportune at the time to put up new stop signs to slow the traffic down and have them stop there so that it wouldn’t continue to be abused for speeding,” Wright said. “We’ve been monitoring it and we will continue to monitor it. I haven’t received any more complaints about speeders going through there, and I know there are several happy people there about the new signage.”
After doing a quick investigation, Wright pointed out that Silver Kettle has a full parking lot and that the stop signs are doing what they are intended to do.
“The street on the other side was for construction access to the Silver Kettle, so it’s not a real street, but all legally existing streets have a stop sign,” he said. “It was just a very long stretch of road that a few made it bad for the majority because if all of us law-abiding citizens obey the speed limit then there’s no problem. But it’s the few that make it bad for everybody so we felt it necessary to put the stop signs there.”
Coun. Gary Smith suggested that a stop sign might also be placed near the Gables, by 27th Street.
“I thought it would be better placed near the Gables because there are a lot of kids who go to that complex,” he said. “That’s the route they take to go to school.”
He noted the placement chosen by staff may have been determined to be the better location for the stop signs, though additional signs may help.
“I just think it should be placed further down the street,” Smith said. “I made the suggestion to staff because there’s certainly more traffic coming from the Gables than there is from Silver Kettle Village at the moment. Staff are thinking into the future by hoping that residents will get used to the three-way stop sign.”