Sedgwick County installs four-way stop and rumble strips at District 3 intersection

Sedgwick County Commissioner Stephanie Wise said the county has installed a four-way stop and rumble strips at the intersection identified in the meeting as "A Hundred And 60 Seventh and 20 First Street" after recent crashes and increased traffic in the area.

The county's county engineer and director of public works, Lynn Packer, told the commission that the intersection has changed from a rural to a suburban setting as traffic grew, and that those familiar with the old, open sight lines had been running stop signs. "It took us a little while to figure this out," Packer said, explaining staff followed the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and escalated measures as needed.

The new measures add stop signs on the east-west approaches to 20 First Street and rumble strips on the approaches used by the faster-traveling traffic. Packer said the rumble strips are intended to give drivers a tactile warning and that staff avoided overusing treatments that would lose their effectiveness if placed too widely. "Most people, when they feel those rumble strips in the middle of the road, realize a stop condition is coming now," Packer said.

Wise said the county deliberately timed the changes to avoid the school year and to separate this conversion from a separate four-way conversion made at a nearby intersection. "We waited until school is out," Packer said, and county staff also deferred the work until after Memorial Day travel.

County staff described the four-way stop and rumble strips as interim safety measures. Packer said the county will monitor the intersection to evaluate effectiveness and proceed to a capital improvement project in the coming years. "We may find out that the four-way stop is an appropriate, intermediary measure that can last a little longer," Packer said, adding that a consultant will be hired for design work and that turn lanes will be required under any long-term solution. She listed possible permanent solutions as a signalized intersection or a roundabout.

No formal vote or ordinance was recorded on the transcript. Commissioners discussed the change as an operational action by Public Works rather than a legislative item requiring a commission vote.

For more information or to report concerns about 20 First and A Hundred And 60 Seventh or other county roads, Commissioner Wise gave her email as stephanie.wise@sedgwick.gov and Lynn Packer provided lynn.packer@sedgwick.gov; the county public works phone number listed in the meeting was 660-1777.