Cookeville began work on Monday to install a four-way stop at the intersection of Freeze Street and Jefferson Avenue.
Public Works Director Mary Beth Elrod said the city has been working on the streetscape project near the intersection and has noticed an issue of cars trying to pull out from Freeze Street. Elrod said the angled parking on both sides of North Jefferson Avenue is what makes pulling out difficult.
“It is hard to see to get out with the parking on the street,” Elrod said. “This street section is very wide for this section of North Jefferson, so it is hard to cross all the traffic and navigate the on-street parking as well.”
Elrod said the city believes a four-way stop is the best way to calm the traffic at the intersection. Elrod said the four-way stop will have various ways to warn drivers of the intersection change.
“We are going to paint in temporary stop bars, we are going to put up temporary stop signs, and we are gonna build an island there with curbing so we can then install a permanent stop sign that has solar-powered flashing to notify motorists of the new stop,” Elrod said. “We will also get rumble strip and stop ahead paint, and notifications on the ground to also notify of the new traffic pattern.”
Elrod said the intersection has historically had safety issues. Elrod said this is not the first time the city has tried to address the intersection.
“One of the solutions we did in the past was put some notifications on stop signs on Freeze about the through traffic not stopping,” Elrod said. “That seemed to help some, but now that we have paved and we have more traffic coming through the area.”
Elrod said the four-way stop will be permanent.
