Ida Nelson dreads the four-way stop near her home in Edmonds at 238th Street SW and 84th Avenue W, where she says drivers seem to routinely ignore the stop signs.
“I fear to cross the street to get my mail since cars come around the corner of 238th and 84th without so much as a pause, certainly not a legal stop, which causes me to run in order to get out of their way,” Nelson said.
All-way stop intersections are usually fairly safe “if people were to obey the rules,” said Bertrand Hauss, the city’s transportation engineer, when asked about Nelson’s concern.
Hauss confirmed that there are stop bars painted on the road beside the stop signs. Adding crosswalks might further help; but in order to add a crosswalk, there needs to be a sidewalk on either end, and sidewalks are something that intersection lacks.
Adding a sidewalk might sound simple, but the costs quickly pile up. Projects like that typically require some help from grant money. Hauss said it’s too early to say whether this particular intersection should be added to the city’s wish list.
“We have a lot of other projects. We need to prioritize them. There’s a possibility, but nothing’s planned right now,” he said.
In the meantime, Hauss said he would notify the police department about the enforcement concern.
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