A little more than two weeks into a three month trial of a “No Exit” sign posted at the end of Empire Avenue with its West Street intersection in Stephenville, Mike Dunphy said it’s not helping.
“We don’t want it and we don’t need it,” is the stand that the Empire Avenue resident said he is making on behalf of residents.
Mayor Tom Rose has called it a dangerous intersection and said a decision on whether the sign will remain after the March, April and May trial concludes.
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Dunphy said despite the sign being erected, a few drivers are still exiting onto West Street but the majority of residents on the street are going around using Rose Avenue and Colonial Avenue, streets with no sidewalks.
He said the mayor talks about openness and transparency, yet his council would not meet with residents of Empire Avenue.
Dunphy said he is hearing complaints from residents of Rose Avenue and Colonial Avenue of the increase in traffic.
“It’s not our fault, we really didn’t want this,” he said.
Dunphy said during the first Friday of the trial the town’s garbage truck backed into a residential driveway without a spotter and the past two weeks that truck has been zigzagging left to right on Empire Avenue.
He said there are also issues associated with oil trucks and the Canada Post van stopping to fill the mailbox located at the end of Empire Avenue.
Dunphy said the simple solution to the problem is to put up a stop sign with flashing lights on it at the end of the Hansen Highway where it meets West Street, as has been done on other streets in the town.
He said a warning sign of a hidden intersection could be put up in advance of the stop sign on the Hansen Highway, where a problem exists of drivers are going through that sign.
“(Council is) punishing us (Empire Avenue residents) for obeying the law and rewarding others for going through that stop sign,” he said.
Rose said if the trial works out, the stop sign on the Hansen Highway can be moved ahead to give drivers a better view of traffic coming up West Street.
Dunphy said that’s not possible because it would end up parallel with the crosswalk that can’t be moved because it’s already at the end of that road.
“What the residents of Empire Avenue want is a full reversal of the decision to putting up the No Exit sign,” Dunphy said.
