Council considers LED sign to slow down Holly Blvd. traffic

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor

An LED sign may be the early solution to making the Sandstone Avenue-west Holly Boulevard intersection safer.

The Brandon City Council revisited the issue on July 3, which initially surfaced at their June 19 meeting when several Eagle Creek residents voiced their concern.

While the message on the sign is yet to be determined, City Administrator Bryan Read said the real problem is that people are not paying attention, especially at peak commute times.

“The issue is not from people passing on the right. Most accidents are rear ends so they’re not watching,” he said.

At the June meeting, resident Matt Henning, who lives in the 1400 block of Creekside Circle, described the intersection as “dangerous” and said “something needs to be done.”

Another idea suggested included lowering the speed limit to 35 mph. That plan, however, wasn’t well received.

“It’s a long way to the Bluffs and it would be a nightmare to patrol,” Read said, noting that most of the accidents at that intersection occurred between 5 and 6 p.m., and the vehicles were westbound.

“Typically, it’s rear-end (accidents), so they’re too close and they’re not paying attention. That’s kind basically what it boils down to,” Read said.

Alderman Blaine Jones said he’s well aware of the danger of the intersection, but did say the number of accidents there have been are “statistically small.”

“It’s not that I don’t have a sympathetic ear to the accidents that are out there, but if you look at the statistics as a whole, (the number of) accidents we’ve had out there versus the traveling public, it’s small, it’s minute. Yes, there have been accidents; there’s accidents at every intersection in the city. I have a very sympathetic ear and I want to see this problem solved, but statistically, it’s small,” he said.

Since 2014, there have been eight accidents at the intersection, according to Brandon Police Chief Dave Kull.

At the June meeting, Eagle Creek resident Mark Rechtenbaugh told the council he was misled by the developer, who said a connecting street – Meadowbrook Trail – would be built once the electronic intersection lights were installed. Meadowbrook, he added, would give safer access onto Holly Boulevard.

If that stretch of Meadowbrook Trail existed, Recthenbaugh said he would turn into the Eagle Creek development at Heritage Road instead of Sandstone Avenue even though it wouldn’t be the closest route.

“If I can go to a turn lane at Heritage and have a light and get in there and not get rear-ended, I will do that,” he said.

Read said his office plans to schedule a meeting with the Eagle Creek developers this month to discuss extending Meadowbrook Trail, and will contact Minnehaha County to see if they’d be interested in sharing the cost for turning lanes.

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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