MARTINSVILLE, VA – Despite facing opposition and causing confusion among some community members, the replacement of five traffic lights with stop signs has mitigated speeding in Uptown Martinsville.
About a year ago, a committee of city employees was formed and it undertook a survey to enhance uptown's accessibility, according to Chief of Police Rob Fincher.
“It actually started over concerns of parking about where to put parking and
we consulted some experts and those experts said that you actually don't
have a parking issue, you've got a lot of parking,” Chief Fincher said. “The issue is that you need to make the city more walkable so we began looking at ways to improve the walkability of the uptown area.”
Their recommendations, ranging from functional sidewalks, improved lighting, elevated crosswalks, and improved road signage, are now actively underway.
“Having all way stops it will actually decrease your overall traffic,” Fincher explained. “It gets people looking around the area a little bit more, so not only are they slowing the traffic uptown, but it's forcing them to look at the businesses that are around them as they're going up. It also forces people to drive defensively, because they're concerned. They don't just pay attention to their phone and wait for the light to turn green and go. They're actually looking to see what other people are doing.”
To address the community's concerns, Chief Fincher took to Facebook to share information to ease the transition.
Mayor LC Jones wrote on that post that there was a lack of timely communication regarding the changes.
“The current rollout of the traffic plan has been a complete disaster,” Mayor Jones wrote. “Firstly, the plan was not supported by all city council members, if any. Additionally, citizens were not made aware of these coming changes in a reasonable amount of time. Now, there is talk of committing more resources to address the issue of motorists not stopping at stop signs, which seems ridiculous given that the original issue was speeding. The speeding issues could have and should have been addressed with the help of law enforcement presence and action. I recommend restoring traffic lights and presenting a comprehensive plan to the council and citizens to prevent further confusion in our uptown area.”
Fincher said the police department presented the proposed solutions to city council on September 12.
“The first few days were a little rough like any change but now it's getting better,” The Chief added. “People are telling me in the uptown area it has decreased the flow of traffic as far as the speed and we're seeing a lot more compliance.”
LED-lighted, solar powered stop signs are being ordered, and the all way text will be added to the signs.
These adjustments are expected to be fully integrated by the end of the month.
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