Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said city officials will continue to monitor the intersection of Lampkin and South Washington streets after aldermen decided not to bag its existing traffic signals in favor of a four-way stop configuration.
Aldermen took no action on the change suggested by Starkville Utilities General Manager Terry Kemp, which would have included a four-week study on the move’s impact to traffic flow in the area. A traffic study, however, could still follow after both Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins said the city should take its time and fully understand the issue before moving forward with adjusting traffic patterns.
The proposed change came about because of the ongoing effort to renovate Starkville Police Department headquarters, located on Lampkin Street in the former home of City Hall. Wiseman said moving to traffic signs would allow workers to move some of the area’s infrastructure underground, while an existing pole would be invested to AT&T, which is providing communications infrastructure for the project.
The board did not authorize a new traffic study, but Walker said the city should take its time and define the scope of metrics such an analysis should determine. A traffic flow study in the area was last completed three years ago, Kemp said.
“I would be OK with a test. If it fails, we leave the light up and put a (new) light standard up to increase the appearance of that intersection because what we have right now does not enhance the appearance of that intersection. If it means that we can remove lines … and have an intersection that is going to be functional for both the police station and downtown in a more meaningful way, that’s absolutely the solution we should take,” Walker said. “We’ve gone through the trouble of bagging and removing lights, then only to turn around and put lights back up because some people didn’t like how that worked despite what the traffic study said.”
The Lampkin-South Washington streets intersection has seen a number of configurations in the past, including stop signs, standard signalization and traffic lights with turn signals.
Kemp said a change to stop signs could alleviate traffic congestion along Lampkin Street that is created when the light holds for South Washington Street drivers that do not materialize.
“My personal opinion after having driven (through the area) for years — from a light with a turn signal, a stop sign and now — is I think traffic functioned the best out of all of those scenarios with a four-way stop,” Wiseman said.
Perkins said aldermen should take their time and invest in the best available solution for the intersection after committing to a $5.5 million SPD renovation.
“I personally want to ensure we have a very proper and aesthetically pleasing environment. If it requires the expenditure of funds for a nice light there, we need to do that,” he said.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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