AGENDA #5f
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Response to a Petition Requesting Installation of Portable Stop Signs During Power Outages at Signalized Intersections
DATE: February 13, 2006
PURPOSE
The following report is in response to a petition from Mr. Steve Hoff requesting the installation of portable stop signs during power outages at signalized intersections.
We do not recommend changes to existing Town procedures for traffic control at signalized intersections during power outages.
At its January 9, 2006 meeting, the Town Council received a petition (Attachment 1) from Mr. Steve Hoff requesting the installation of portable stop signs during power outages at signalized intersections to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians. In his petition, Mr. Hoff expressed concerns that during a power outage on December 15, 2005, in the Glen Lennox area, no portable stop signs were installed at the intersection of Raleigh Road (NC 54) and Hamilton Road.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
During extended power outages, Town staff use portable generators as necessary to provide emergency power for traffic signals. Temporary stop signs are placed at signalized intersections when judged necessary by the Police Department during power outages or following accidents that affect traffic signal functions.
When multiple intersections experience power outages, they are serviced on a priority basis determined by a combination of traffic volume, sight lines, roadway grades and curves, geometry, etc. that affect intersection operations. Typically, if traffic signals fail to function properly at an intersection, a law enforcement officer will be called to monitor (and in some cases direct) traffic movements until such time that repairs are made, temporary stop signs are installed, or a portable generator is put in service.
On December 15, 2005, Town traffic signal staff received a call from an emergency 911 dispatcher that several traffic signals were without power on NC 54 between Barbee Chapel Road and Hamilton Road. Town signal staff promptly responded by installing portable generators at the affected intersections, starting at the Barbee Chapel Road intersection and working west toward the Hamilton Road intersection. Prior to the installation of a generator at the Hamilton Road/NC 54 intersection, a police officer was onsite monitoring (but not directing) traffic at the intersection.
Apparently, Mr. Hoff observed conditions at the intersection following the power outage and before Town staff had installed the generator. We believe that if conditions had warranted manual traffic control, the police officer onsite would have provided it until such time that the traffic signal problem was rectified as described above.
APPLICABLE STATE LAW
We researched this request with regard to State law and determined that the following section of the State Statutes is germane:
§ 20‑155. Right‑of‑way.
(a) When two vehicles approach or enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right‑of‑way to the vehicle on the right.
(b) The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right‑of‑way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.
(c) The driver of any vehicle upon a highway within a business or residence district shall yield the right‑of‑way to a pedestrian crossing such highway within any clearly marked crosswalk, or any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block, except at intersections where the movement of traffic is being regulated by traffic officers or traffic direction devices.
(d) The driver of any vehicle approaching but not having entered a traffic circle shall yield the right‑of‑way to a vehicle already within such traffic circle.
This section has been interpreted by the courts to apply to circumstances in which there are no stop signs or operable (e.g. during a power outage) traffic control devices at an intersection. In such situations, neither street is favored with regard to traffic movements and Section 20-155 governs vehicular right-of-way. Accordingly, we believe that during a power outage at a signalized intersection, traffic movements through the intersection would function under “all-way” stop control.
CONCLUSION
The Town has standard operating procedures in place for dealing with traffic signal problems at intersections. We believe that those procedures provide a reasonable and prudent response for traffic control and public safety concerns when problems occur at signalized intersections.
Existing Town procedures for managing signalized intersections during the power outages or other incidents that affect traffic signal operations are in accordance with established standards in other municipalities, and we believe our standards are in accordance with applicable sections of State law. We do not recommend changes in the Town’s standard operating procedures.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Petition (p. 3).