‘Scary intersection’ needs county help

County Road Six and 11 is a hazardous intersection in Clifton Township, west of Marshall and East of Milroy.
 “We have a lot of accidents there,” said Dick Vroman of the town board.
The board from Clifton Township appeared in front of the county board to speak about a need for intersection awareness enhancement at the county intersection. Their plea for help did not fall on deaf ears and the board eventually voted to get prices and a proposal to alleviate the problem.
Between 2006 and 2015 there have been five crashes at this location. Since then, in the past two years, there have been five more.
“Some of the things that could be done are a lighted stop sign and ripples in the road, and someone watching an hour or two a day. The Milroy and Tracy school busses use that intersection and we don’t want to see kids killed,” Vroman said.
Larry Polfliet of the board said, “The people of the township are all concerned about this as well. You are all aware there is an issue at this intersection.”
He added, “There is an issue there … otherwise we wouldn’t be standing here,” he said.
He suggested the rumble strips. “This is a whole different animal here. We’ve walked it, we’ve driven it. I don’t understand what happens here and I don’t know what the answer is. We hope you will help out. It’s a problem, a big problem,” added Polfliet.
He expressed fear about kids on buses getting injured and he said this is a very dangerous area.
“We have another intersection that has been lighted — I think that would work,” said resident Greg Breyfogle.
He talked about an accident he had at the intersection and said, “I’ve seen people run the stop sign.”
He indicated he had an accident at the corner and another one occurred before, “I’ve seen people run the stop sign.”
“It’s a scary intersection,” he said.
Commissioner Gary Crowley asked if a four-way stop would help.
County Engineer Aaron VanMoer said he felt a four-way wouldn’t help. “You suffer the risk of having more people go through it,” he said.
“We have been tabulating everything about why this is such a problem,” said VanMoer.
“It’s kinda hard to notice these stop lines. The horizon and a little hill hide the stop sign. It’s not until you get closer and climb the hill and then you’re 200 feet from the intersection,” VanMoer added.
“This does hide the intersection. When the corn is high, you can’t see vehicles in either direction.”
Commissioner Rick Anderson asked, “Would it make sense to put stop signs on 11 and make a thoroughfare on six?”
VanMoer suggested additional signage before the intersection. He said junction signs and warning signs could go a long ways in helping this situation.
Another help would be flashing stop signs. “We have one near Cottonwood and they do help in the reduction factor,” said the county engineer. Counties that have done this look at a 25 percent reduction factor due to flashing signs or rumble strips,” he said.
“Most of the accidents are people coming from the north, heading south,” said VanMoer.
The intersection is the only “county-county” intersection on the list of the Top 100 Intersections in Lyon County ranked by total number of crashes. All the rest involve a state highway or are a “city-city” jurisdiction.
Commissioner Charlie Sanow asked if there was yellow lighting available for warning signs.
Board Chairman Paul Graupmann asked if a “long term” and a “short-term” solution have been developed.
Engineer VanMoer talked about rumble strips, indicating a need for strips that were, “effective but not distracting. All the options I have are low cost, including enhanced signage and stop signs from both directions.”
He threw out prices of $3,000 for rumble strips and $4,000 for other signage. He said the work would be contracted out. VanMoer added that LED signs and rumble strips were about the same cost.
“Is this a project where we could use our dollars and get it done quicker?” asked Commissioner Anderson.
Commissioner Sanow asked VanMoer to, “Come back with a plan and the dollars involved.”
He added, “Give us a ballpark number.” Commissioner Steve Ritter also indicated, “We need to know a dollar amount.”
VanMoer indicated he would do that. By January or February he would have results of surveys and would be aware of what grant funds may be possible.
Commissioner Sanow made a motion to ask VanMoer to move forward with suggesting what signage or rumble strips are needed and what the costs will be. The commissioners approved the motion.