Bonner County reviews LED stop-sign performance after battery issues and repeated vandalism
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Summary
County director said LED stop signs procured via a previous railroad-safety grant have experienced winter battery charge problems and repeated shooting vandalism; county will maintain them while monitoring costs and may revert to standard signs if upkeep proves expensive.
Director Toph said Bonner County installed a reduced number of LED stop signs (about 24 of an originally proposed 88) at intersections with high incidents or limited sightlines. The signs were funded through a previous railroad-safety grant and approved by the board for county maintenance. "They start flashing as you're coming up on them... a lot of those worked for about 2 months and then didn't work again," Toph said, noting winter daylight and snow cover limit battery charging.
County crews are manually pulling batteries to charge and re-install where feasible; Toph said the county will maintain the signs for now but will revert to conventional stop signs if upkeep becomes too costly. He also described recurring vandalism: signs and electronic setups have been shot repeatedly — one electronic sign at Spear Lake cited as about a $4,000 unit — and he described large-caliber bullet damage to several posts near houses as both dangerous and disheartening.
Toph said he worked with the Idaho Transportation Department to relocate a turn lane at one location and noted ITD funds certain signs at state highway intersections. He said street-name blades for the new posts required custom brackets and county staff Brian and Jonas are fabricating and installing them.
No formal policy change or vote was taken; county staff will continue to monitor sign performance and maintenance costs.