Four Way Stop being considered for Downtown Seneca

A suggestion to create a four-way stop in downtown Seneca was presented to the Seneca City Council Tuesday night by City Administrator Scott Moulder. “The proposal to convert the intersection of North Townville Street and Main Street and Ram Cat Alley from a traffic signal to a four-way stop. In talking with the South Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT), the traffic signals at that particular intersection are some what old and the parts are becoming more and more difficult to find when and if they go out. The arms themselves are not engineered and designed for today’s new standard stop lights that they put up, so if for some reason there was an issue that we had with the stop lights there they would actually have to replace the poles in order to bring in new traffic signals at that particular location. So, the question was asked do we at this point still need traffic signals at that particular location or would a four-way stop be sufficient? We received some information from an engineer on what it would take to actually convert that to a four-way stop sign intersection rather the signal and the engineer went through a series of process that you have to go through to study it and do traffic counts and submit it back to the DOT. The total prices for that would be about $2,300 and this quote came from Infrastructure Consulting and Engineering. So, at this point I’m not proposing anything, I just wanted to bring it to your attention that is something that has been suggested and discussed do to the aging equipment there at that intersection and what it would take in order to make any repairs as necessary. So, I just wanted to present that to the mayor and council for your discussion. We can take it to a committee if you would like, but I at least wanted to present that to you for consideration. I’m not asking for any formal decision on it just yet until there is further discussion.” The belief is that current traffic volumes at the intersection are such that the change could be made without endangering pedestrian and vehicle safety.