DOT says ‘no go’ to 4-way stop on Hwy. 200

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Pull out the stop signs.
The four-way stop at the intersection of Hwy. 200 and Caledonia Avenue will be changed to a two-way stop if the north-south highway is reconstructed as planned in 2008.
Hillsboro city leaders finally heard from state DOT officials on the contentious matter last Friday.
“It appears we’ve lost the four-way stop,” said commission president Kevin Burg at Monday’s meeting. “I’m very disappointed.”
“It’ll be very upsetting for a lot of people in town,” added commissioner Lorraine Tibert. “It’s upsetting to me.”
“Me, too,” Burg agreed.
“It’s too bad they (the DOT) don’t listen to the townspeople,” Tibert added. “People aren’t going to like a two-way stop.”
“That’s not going to change their (the DOT’s) mind,” offered commissioner Mike Lessard.
The state’s decision orders that the four-way stop be replaced with a two-way stop on Caledonia. City leaders had lobbied long and hard to maintain the controlled intersection for safety’s sake. The crossroads has been equipped with traffic lights or a four-way stop for more than 20 years. It was first set up with controls when I-29 was detoured through town over two summers while the interstate was repaired.
State officials determined that recent traffic counts on Hwy. 200 and Caledonia did not warrant a four-way stop — based on federal guidelines. The first count was taken in November 2006 and again in May 2007 — at the insistence of city officials. There were no dramatic differences in the numbers, state officials calculated, and the counts didn’t meet the federal standards for a four-way stop.
Since the proposed road reconstruction project is being funded by a $1.6 million federal grant, the design must abide by federal rules (Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices) or risk losing the federal funding, city officials learned.
Commissioners will wait until July 16 to decide if the city should move forward with the planned reconstruction project — minus the four-way stop — or turn back the federal and state grant, worth about $2 million.
Commission president Kevin Burg said there was “no recourse with the DOT, short of going to the governor’s office.”
Burg added it was “unlikely the governor would step into” the dispute.
Fargo district engineer Kevin Gorder told the Banner that the DOT “went to bat” for the city in negotiations with federal highway officials.
“We couldn’t find a way to justify the four-way stop and maintain eligibility for federal funds,” Gorder explained. “If you want the federal aid, the two-way stop has to go in.”
He added that the decision was “difficult” and state officials took an extra month to decide but “we were backed into a corner” by the federal regulations.
City officials understood from conversations with the DOT that the two-way stop could be re-examined if five accidents occurred in the intersection in a 12-month period that could be proven to be caused by the lack of a four-way stop.
Burg commented that with the four-way stop taken off the table, the question that remains is how soon the four-way signs are taken down.
“It’s lost whether we do or don’t do the project,” Burg said.
Now the commission must give a final commitment on the city’s intention to move forward with the project. Commissioners agreed to wait two weeks with hopes of hearing from the public on the matter.
Burg said, “Is it still the right thing to do the project? It was the right thing to do before.”
Lessard questioned, “Do people want to pay specials on the project without a stop sign?”
If the city commission decides to drop the 2008 project, the state could still repair the highway in the future. Commissioners have been told no sooner than 2014 that an “overlay,” not a reconstruction, may be on the schedule.
Under a long-standing agreement with the DOT, the city pays for maintenance and repairs outside a 40-foot width in the middle of the road, considered the driving lane. That formula would remain in place for an overlay project, city officials understood.
Reconstruction of Hwy. 200 was contingent on the federal grant that Hillsboro had secured in 2005, Burg said. “The state has no interest in a reconstruction without the federal money.”
The city can’t afford to do the estimated $3 million project on its own, Burg intimated.
Gorder told the Banner that timeline for repairs on Hwy. 200 may be moved up to 2010. The design of those future projects would not follow the plan of the 2008 projects, he noted. They would be re-designed from scratch based on current available funding and additional public comment — but would be state projects with much less input from the city.
Burg commented, “The state will tell us what will get done and we will just share the cost without much input.”
If the city walked away from the federal and state grant, the city would still be responsible for some engineering costs, at least $10,000 and perhaps more if nothing is done to improve the road in 10 years.
“We’d still pay for doing nothing,” commented auditor Lesley Connelly.
The Hwy. 200 reconstruction project in Hillsboro was awarded a NDSTREETS grant (North Dakota Small Town Revitalization Endeavor for Enhancing Transportation) in the fall of 2005. The grant provides $1.6 million in federal funds and an estimated $400,000 in state funds for the project, which is expected to cost $3 million.
After months of debate and intense lobbying, the city’s wish for maintaining a 56-foot wide road resurfaced in concrete road won approval from the state DOT. The state had favored narrowing the road to 44 feet with an asphalt surface, a less expensive option. City residents pushed commissioners to fight for a wide road with a better surface because the well-used road supports a good deal of heavy truck traffic. Once the city agreed to pay the added cost, the state eventually relented and approved that element of the design. Then four-way vs. two-stop debate ensued.
The city’s share of the proposed project is expected to be about $1 million, more than the original 10 percent advertised when the grant was awarded. The city’s portion increased when the city chose construction options that fell outside the scope of the grant and construction costs were hit by estimated 25-percent annual inflation over three years. Project costs beyond the capped federal and state grants would become the city’s responsibility.
Using the $1 million estimate, special assessments to finance the city’s share of the road’s reconstruction are calculated to be $132 per year for 15 years on a 100-foot lot. Additional sewer and water improvements tied into the Hwy. 200 work would cost about $400,000. According to engineer’s estimates city utility customers could anticipate fees of $3.59 a month for 20 years or $1.57 a month for 40 years depending if the work is financed through a state loan or a USDA Rural Development grant and loan package.
City property owners are also anticipating special assessments for the 2006 water distribution improvement project, estimated at $119 a year for 20 years on a 100-foot lot. The 2007 city-wide street improvement project is expected to require a $400 a year special assessment for 20 years to a 100-foot lot.