MDT: Four-way stop not warranted

The Montana Department of Transportation does not recommend installing a four-way stop on Nucleus Avenue and Sixth Street, the Columbia Falls City Council learned at their Oct. 3 meeting.

The number of accidents and the traffic volume do not warrant a four-way stop there, MDT traffic engineer James Freyholtz explained, and the level of service on Nucleus would decline as a result of the stop signs.

Freyholtz explained his analysis of traffic data and MDT policy when questioned by councilor Dave Petersen, who proposed the four-way stop earlier this year. Petersen owns the Nord Building across Sixth Street from Glacier Discovery Square, where weekly farmers markets are held during summer. The council supported Petersen's idea and sent a request for the stop signs to MDT.

Nucleus Avenue is a secondary state highway, Montana 486, which runs up the North Fork to the Canada border. Freyholtz said the state took over the road from the county at some point, but he couldn't answer police chief Dave Perry's question about why two traffic signals hung over Nucleus in the early 1980s.

"Maybe they put the traffic lights up without an analysis," Freyholtz said.

MDT collected traffic data on Nucleus in May and again in summer. Peak traffic volume southbound on Nucleus in July was 200 vehicles in the morning, 320 around noon and 315 in the early evening. On Sixth Street, eastbound peak traffic was 10 in the morning, 15 at noon and 23 in the evening.

MDT also looked at crash history on Nucleus over the past 10 years. Fourth Street saw the most with four crashes, followed by Third Street with three, Sixth and Seventh with two apiece, First and Fifth with one apiece and Second with none. They noted that two rear-end crashes were caused by people stopping on Nucleus for pedestrians.

"That's not a bad crash history for that much time," Freyholtz said.

Smith's Foods draws the most vehicle and pedestrian traffic on Nucleus, he noted.

"The Fourth and Fifth intersections had the most pedestrian traffic, but there was even more between the two streets," he said.

Putting in a mid-block crossing, however, would eliminate parking, and "people would probably cross wherever they want anyway," Freyholtz said.

A four-way stop at Sixth Street would cause traffic to queue up on Nucleus, Freyholtz explained, and there would be no benefit on days when Sixth is closed for the farmers markets. He recommended replacing existing pedestrian signs and putting reflective strips on posts at Fourth and Fifth streets. He also said MDT wanted more input from the city council on pedestrian-safety needs.

Petersen questioned Freyholtz about MDT standards and process, including how MDT takes into account impacts to local economies.

If commerce draws more traffic, then MDT will consider the effects, Freyholtz said.

"It's like the chicken and the egg," Petersen said.

Super 1 Foods was required to pay for a traffic signal on the U.S. strip because of anticipated traffic, Freyholtz noted.

Petersen explained that the city council had asked MDT to consider putting a four-way stop at Sixth Street for six months to see how it would work. When Freyholtz said he was not aware of MDT doing anything like that, Petersen asked for his boss' name. The councilor also asked if a four-way stop might be a better fit at Fourth or Fifth streets.

"I'm looking for a way to try it out," Petersen said, citing the difficulties of dealing with "a highway to nowhere" that is filled with potholes, a clear reference to the North Fork Road.

Councilor Mike Shepard pointed out that the city tried to get public support last year for improving the North Fork Road, but the public "stayed away in droves." He also noted that MDT didn't repaint the pedestrian crossing lines on Nucleus this year.