Commission denies multiway stop at Woodmont and Dartmouth after staff says site fails MUTCD warrants

The commission voted to deny authorization for a multiway stop at Woodmont Lane and Dartmouth Avenue after traffic staff advised the intersection does not meet the MUTCD multiway-stop warrants.

Andrew Smith, the traffic staff member presenting the analysis, told commissioners that sight-distance measurements at the location exceeded the thresholds staff checks for multiway-stop warrants. "Once the vegetation's been cut back, the sight distance triangle exceeds 225 feet for the requirement for a left turn from stop and a 195 feet for a right turn from the stop," Smith said, explaining why staff recommended denying the request.

Commissioners questioned whether the addition of nearby stop signs could push traffic onto this block and asked whether other remedies had been considered. Staff cited options including neighborhood traffic calming programs and tactical urbanism measures as alternatives and said they could conduct traffic counts if the location became a candidate in a later round. Commissioner (S2) moved to deny the authorization per staff recommendation; the motion was seconded and, after one recorded opposition on the transcript, Chair (S1) announced the motion had passed. The transcript does not record a full roll-call tally.

The commission and staff discussed follow-up steps for neighborhoods seeking more immediate relief, including tactical urbanism applications or neighborhood-traffic-calming program requests, and staff said they would share application information and consider trimming vegetation and signal timing as mitigation tools.