NORTHAMPTON — A four-way stop sign was officially unveiled at the intersection of Hatfield Street and Cooke Avenue on Sept. 17.
In an announcement to the public, the DPW said that this will be a temporary installation for 120 days so they can assess the safety benefits of the sign.
“A decision regarding permanent installation will be made utilizing information from this assessment,” read the DPW’s announcement.
The four-way stop installation at the intersection was officially approved by the City Council during its regular meeting on Aug. 15 after DPW Director Donna LaScaleia explained during the July 11 meeting that the stop will be used to help control traffic flow and increase safety.
According to LaScaleia, the city hired engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill to complete a stop sign safety study last fall, which included information gathering around traffic counts and accident data to see what a feasible safety measure for the intersection would be.
LaScaleia said during the City Council’s July 11 regular meeting that the city used this safety study to find an alternative solution to increase traffic and pedestrian safety in light of the fact that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation canceled a proposed roundabout project at North King Street and Hatfield Street three years ago.
The roundabout project was terminated by MassDOT in 2021 after an overwhelming majority of comments raised at a public hearing shunned the project due to its impacts to a nearby archaeological site in the area.
“What we are looking at is a solution with the understanding that the state is going to be looking at that entire corridor and potentially resurrecting the roundabout project and looking at that entire area to reconstruct at a later date,” LaScaleia said during the council meeting. “So, we wanted to try to come up with a solution that would be satisfactory in the meantime to try to control traffic flow and just increase safety for folks trying to make turning movements at that intersection.”
LaScaleia told the council that an order asking for a trial period is “unusual,” but in this case, necessary based on Fuss & O’Neill’s analysis.
“Fuss & O’Neill’s analysis discerned there is a 10-to-1 traffic ratio, where, for every 10 cars that are traveling on Hatfield Street, there is one car trying to make a turning movement off of Cook Avenue from either direction,” LaScaleia said, explaining the reasoning for the trial run. “So, with a 10-to-1 ratio, there could potentially be undesirable queuing on Hatfield Street, and it’s unclear what the impact of the stop sign is going to be until we actually plant it and then analyze what’s happening in our cars being pushed elsewhere.”
LaScaleia said during the July 11 meeting that a signal may be needed if the all-way stop is not working as designed, but, if the all-way stop mitigates the safety issues at the intersection, then the DPW would return to the council to ask for a permanent ordinance following the 120-day trial run.
According to the announcement on the city’s website, advance warning signs and orange construction barrels are present on both Hatfield Street approaches to forewarn drivers of the four-way stop.
