How many engineers does it take to install a stop sign?
If you ask Lysander Highway Superintendent Gene Dinsmore, he might say just one engineer — but not the one employed by the town of Lysander.
During the work session preceding the April 13 meeting of the Lysander Town Board, Dinsmore took issue with the proposed installation of two stop signs on Talamore Way in the Talamore subdivision.
Dinsmore said the town should consult a traffic engineer, who would be well-versed in the way signage affects traffic patterns. Town engineer Al Yager, he pointed out, is a civil engineer.
By installing the two signs in Talamore, Dinsmore said, the town would be in violation of state and federal Department of Transportation requirements, which seek to reduce the installation of stop signs unless deemed “absolutely necessary.”
Yager said the road in question, Talamore Way, is home to only 13 lots, so the addition of two stop signs — one at the intersection of Talamore Way and Patchett Road and another at Talamore Way’s T-shaped intersection — would not disrupt traffic flow in the subdivision.
Dinsmore said the town had ordered what he thought were excessive stop signs in other areas, such as on Olive Drive and at Seneca Estates. He said some residents were feuding over signage and there have been instances of residents removing stop signs.
“We have the same situation several places across town — neighbors against neighbors,” Dinsmore said.
“Just because they don’t want it up doesn’t mean it’s not advisable [to have a stop sign],” Town Councilor Melinda Shimer said.
Dinsmore also cited the three-way stop on Loop Road, near Anheuser-Busch and the Lysander Town Hall, as a problem. A snowplow knocked down one of the stop signs, and the highway department has yet to replace it.
“Unless you order it, I have no intention of replacing it,” Dinsmore told Supervisor John Salisbury.
Salisbury suggested the town go ahead with scheduling a public hearing for the Talamore stop signs and let Dinsmore hire a traffic engineer “out of his budget” for future signage studies.
While Dinsmore objected to the idea of using highway department funding, he said he could speak to local engineering firms and find out rates for a traffic engineer.
A public hearing regarding the Talamore stop signs will be held at 7 p.m. April 27.
