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Council adopts local road safety plan after seniors urge flashing beacons at Stevenson and Cole
Summary
Uniontown adopted a local road safety plan identifying nine candidate areas and about $21 million in candidate projects, and council and staff signaled near-term interim measures for the Stevenson & Cole intersection after senior residents described recent injuries and requested rapid-flashing beacons and signage.
Uniontown’s City Council on March 9 adopted a local road safety plan that staff said identifies nine priority locations and roughly $21,000,000 in possible improvements, after residents urged faster action at the Stevenson and Cole intersection near AutoZone.
At public comment, a senior resident who lives near the intersection described two recent, serious pedestrian injuries there and urged the city to install four rectangular solar-powered rapid-flashing beacons with push-button crosswalk controls and to post 25 mph signage. “We need, please, because of the people who are involved with that area…we need a set of four rectangular solar flashing beacons,” the resident said during the public-comment period. Another resident, John Dahlquist, said he had observed rolling stops and distracted pedestrians and provided a color map and crash concerns to councilmembers.
Public Works staff and council members told the council that planners have a preliminary site drawing to create two pedestrian curb extensions on the south side of the intersection and that interim steps will include establishing a 25 mph speed zone and a marked no-parking stall near the shop by AutoZone. Public Works reported a preliminary engineer’s estimate of about $84,000 for the curb-extension work; staff said the estimate does not include the rapid-flashing beacons on all four corners.
Councilmember McClure, reporting from the public-works committee, said staff expects a more complete budget and drawings by March or at the council’s first April meeting. City staff said interim measures will be implemented in the coming days while engineering and grant-seeking continue.
The council unanimously approved Resolution No. 1870 to adopt the local road safety plan, with council and staff emphasizing that the plan will be used to seek grants and loans to fund identified countermeasures, including LED lighting upgrades, striping, rumble strips, and pedestrian-crossing enhancements.
Why it matters: The plan allows the city to qualify for state and federal safety funding and to prioritize projects identified through recent crash data and community input. Residents emphasized the immediate safety risk to seniors and other vulnerable pedestrians at Stevenson & Cole; staff proposed short-term, interim actions while engineering and funding work continues.
Next steps: Staff will return with a preliminary budget and drawing for the full intersection treatment (staff projected a fuller set of materials by March or early April) and pursue grants and loans to cover the longer-term work identified in the plan.
