After testing out a new three-way stop at the Oak Avenue and West Broad Street intersection, Cookeville has deemed the change a success.
The intersection was changed to a three-way stop to improve safety for drivers pulling out. Cookeville Public Works Director Mary Beth Elrod said the city is very happy with the results of the three-way stop.
“This has really helped,” Elrod said. “It stops the traffic in all directions, it makes everyone be able to see all the motorists, all of the pedestrians, and everyone parking in the area. And it does help just the whole intersection in general with safety and traffic calming.”
Elrod said the city is looking at what traffic changes may come to the downtown area with the Depot Street Project. Elrod said the intersection may change again, but for now, the change is permanent.
“We’ve done the solar-powered flashing stop signs, so that will alert people with the flashing stop signs that there is the new three-way stop and traffic pattern,” Elrod said. “And then we also did the permanent striping of the stop bars, so the motorist not only see the stop sign, but they see the striping on the ground showing them where to stop.”
Elrod said there are no other plans to change other intersections at this time. Elrod said intersection changes originate from citizen complaints.
“We are always getting recommendations from citizens concerned or the police department concerned, and we will deploy traffic counters, speed monitoring, and then also look at on-street parking and any kind of stop violations. So we are doing this regularly to monitor other things that we may need to work on.”
The Oak Avenue and West Broad Street three-way stop was installed temporarily in August.