A month after deciding to remove stop signs at more than half of Burgaw's all-way stops, town leaders have reversed course.
The Burgaw Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the ordinance to remove 16 stop signs in its meeting on Feb. 10. The ordinance was a part of the consent agenda, items that are generally considered to be of a routine nature.
The stop signs were scheduled to be removed starting on March 2. However, according to James Gantt, Burgaw's town manager, the removal was delayed after town officials received mixed feedback on the ordinance from residents.
Commissioners reopened the discussion at the March 10 board meeting and unanimously voted to repeal the ordinance.
Here's why the change was proposed and why commissioners ended up walking it back.
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Where were stop signs going to be removed?
The ordinance proposed removing 16 stop signs from eight all-way-stop intersections in Burgaw (two stop signs from each intersection.)
These included four intersections on McNeil Street, three on Bickett Street and one on South Dudley Street.
The stops signs in question are generally on side residential roads.
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Why remove the stop signs?
According to Gantt, the stop signs aren't serving their intended purpose.
Gantt said the signs were originally installed to control for speed. However, this use goes against the recommendations of organizations like the N.C. Department of Transportation. Instead, stop signs should control traffic flow.
This discrepancy could create safety issues, Gantt said.
"When you have a stop sign that's not in the correct place, people tend to run the stop signs more frequently," Gantt said. "People (also) tend to speed up heavily, trying to make up time for having to stop."
Gantt said the town has already controlled for speed by reducing the speed limit in all of Burgaw's residential areas to 25 mph from 35 mph and is also looking at other measures such as speed bumps.
Why did commissioners reverse course?
At the March 10 board meeting, Olivia Dawson, Burgaw's mayor, stated that commissioners had received feedback from residents that didn't want to see the stop signs removed.
"We were trying to make some of that flow better ... but those (stop signs) are put in place (to control) for speeding," Dawson said.
Commissioner Michael Pearsall highlighted the cost of adding speed bumps in place of stop signs.
"Since we're growing, putting up speed humps in everyone's neighborhood, about $1,000, $1,500 a pop, I don't know if everyone wants to stomach that," he said. "Because no one wants the taxes raised, because that's what it's going to take."
Instead, commissioners opted to improve the intersections in question by painting or repainting to roads with white bars to indicate the stop signs.
Moving forward, commissioners may opt for adding fewer stop signs.
"As we develop and grow, we need to look at how we control speed in other locations," Dawson said.
Charlie Kingree is the Pender County and trending topics reporter for the StarNews. He can be reached at [email protected].