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Public Works Director Dave Yeager convinced the Crescent City Council on Monday that a four-way stop sign would urge motorists to slow down as they approach A and 5th streets.
Six reported collisions have occurred at that intersection between June 2021 and August 2024, Yeager stated in his staff report. On Monday, he cited concerns raised by Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin as well as people who have witnessed those collisions.
Yeager also referred to the Del Norte Local Road Safety Plan in his staff report, which noted “one historical collision event”: A rear-end collision with one injury in 2011.
Both A and 5th streets are collector streets, which are engineered to have fewer stops in an effort to route traffic away from residential areas, according to Yeager’s staff report. These typically occur in commercial districts, the public works director told City Councilors, but there are homes at A and 5th streets.
“The problem we’re having is that folks on 5th Street aren’t realizing that A Street is not B Street and not C Street,” Yeager told the City Council. “They hadn’t had a stop in the last five blocks and they come to A Street and [then] they have a stop, and people aren’t doing it.”
Crescent City has already budgeted $22,000 for the project, according to Yeager. He said he was asking for Council direction to proceed using Measure S dollars as well as money from the general fund.
Crescent City Councilor Candace Tinkler was absent.
In addition to adding more lighting at 5th and A streets, the project will add 50 lineal feet of sidewalk to fill in a gap and install an ADA ramp at one of the intersection’s corners. Yeager said he also wants to add crosswalks and stop bars for motorists, improve striping in the area as well as install signs letting drivers know they’re approaching a four-way stop.
“Per the city municipal code, the public works director has the right to determine the installation and proper timing and maintenance of traffic control devices and signals,” Yeager said, adding that a four-way stop is the only way to curtail the problems at that intersection. “We’ll put up message boards and additional signage so people aren’t shocked.”
The Crescent City Council was supportive of the four-way stop with Mayor Pro Tem Isaiah Wright noting that in the three-year span he had lived near A and 5th streets, there were five collisions.
Public commenter Sam Strait, a resident of the county, asked how putting a stop on A Street would urge motorists on 5th Street to stop.
“Already both streets have a 25 mph speed limit,” he said. “It would seem that only the people who are breaking that speed limit are the ones with the problem.”
Crescent City Manager Eric Wier noted that minor injuries, at least, were associated with the six accidents that occurred at A and 5th streets between 2021 and 2024, though there were no fatalities. He also said that he didn’t think people running the stop sign at 5th Street was a problem.
“There’s an assumption that people would stop at A Street,” he said. “There’s a crosswalk that’s located there, and so I think people are seeing that and thinking that [traffic is] also going to stop. And so, they might make a turn thinking that a car is going to stop when really they’re not.”
Just before approving the four-way stop at A and 5th streets, City Councilors approved a $253,064 contract with Tidewater Contractors to improve ADA ramps, sidewalks and gutters near Joe Hamilton and Crescent Elk schools and at several spots on A and 5th streets. Improvements to the curb and gutter, sidewalk and ADA ramp at the 5th and A street intersection is part of that project.
Crescent City is using a $225,000 Highway Safety Improvement Program grant for that project as well as $53,064 in Measure S dollars. The entire project is expected to cost $278,064.
