MDOT may plan to take away county’s only stoplight

by Angie Asam–Staff Writer

It is common knowledge to locals that we live in a county with only one stoplight, at least for now. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will be meeting with Rogers City officials next Tuesday to discuss the future of the stoplight.

Steve Conradson, traffic and safety engineer at MDOT’s Alpena office, is calling the meeting based on some traffic county studies done in the past.

Conradson said a 2007 study done as a part of MDOT’s optimization program revealed that the traffic light in Rogers City was no longer meeting the volume requirements set forth by MDOT and flagged the light to be watched during the next study.

A study was done in June 2012 and the traffic counts at the light again did not meet the warranted requirements set forth by MDOT. The meeting Tuesday is an initial meeting to discuss the next steps and the future of Presque Isle County’s only stoplight.

“It will go through an evaluation period of 90-120 days. We might make it a flashing light for a while to see how that effects things, the light may be eliminated and a stop sign program put in its place,” said Conradson.

Conradson also said that there has not been many crashes in the last five years, maybe four, that were a direct result of the intersection. If MDOT goes to a flashing light for a time it will be looking to see if crashes increase, which would warrant the light being needed.

The light maintenance and energy costs are betwee

n $700 and $800 each year. A new light, when MDOT modernizes equipment would cost between $110,000-130,000. After the evaluation process, MDOT will make a decision on the light as it is along an MDOT trunk line.

If MDOT decides to remove the light the city could keep the light if it wished but would have to take over all maintenance and energy costs as well as foot the bill if the light needed to be upgraded down the line.

Conradson said a stop sign system, either making the intersection a two-way or four-way stop may help decrease delays and emissions and actually make the flow of traffic smoother.

Following the initial meeting next week MDOT will begin the evaluation process and come up with a conclusion a few months from now on the future of the county’s lone stoplight.