The four-way stop at the intersection of Cookeville’s North Oak Avenue and West First Street is now permanent.
Previously, the intersection had stop signs on First Street while Oak Avenue was a through street. The city installed a temporary four-way stop in May to see if it would make the intersection safer. Cookeville Public Works Director Mary Beth Elrod said the four-way stop has worked as intended.
“We have had no complaints about this four-way stop and no issues, ” Elrod said. “I’m not aware of any wrecks that’s happened at this intersection. We did go ahead and permanently install the solar flashing stop signs at this intersection last week.”
Elrod said complaints about an intersection being dangerous are usually what prompt the city to consider intersection changes. Elrod said the city will review an intersection before making a change.
“We always work with our police department and the traffic division and have them go out and monitor an area, do some speed enforcement, and then come back to us and report back to us on their findings,” Elrod said. “We also pull crash data from each intersection or complaint we might have, and then we analyze it, both public works and the police department, to see the best solution to make the area safer.”
Elrod said it is always a possibility that the city will make more intersection changes in other areas of the city. Elrod said the city does not have plans for more intersection changes.
“At this moment, I’m not aware of any other intersections that need four-way stops or any kind of improvements currently,” Elrod said. “But we get complaints daily, so you never know.”
Cookeville has made two intersection changes in the last two months. The other change was installing a permanent four-way stop at the Freeze Street and Jefferson Avenue intersection.