After moving forward with adding a stop sign at the intersection of 245th Street and Binford Avenue based on discussions about the expansion of the Blood Dairy Farm during previous meetings, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved adding stop signs to halt east and westbound traffic at the intersection of Main Street Road and Zeller Avenue north of Le Grand and east of Marshalltown on Wednesday morning.

County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt explained that traffic is currently stopped north and southbound on Zeller, and the plan is to pave the portion of Main Street Road to the east of the intersection sometime this summer. In his view, adding the stop signs made a lot of sense as he has received countless reports of accidents and close calls at that specific intersection over the years.

“When you pull up to an intersection and it’s rock to the right, pavement to the left, your brain just thinks that rock road must stop, and it doesn’t,” Geilenfeldt said. “So even if we weren’t in the process of making this a hard surface road to the east of this intersection, I would still be grading this to an all way stop just for purposes of safety, and I just thought it would be better to get it in place before the paving happens.”

Chief Deputy Ben Veren asked Geilenfeldt if rumble strips were in place at the intersection, and he responded that while they were not, they would “make sense” in the future.

“I will tell you I’ve never been more concerned about putting a stop sign up than this one as far as it being a switchover and a safety hazard in making this change because right when the change happens is the most dangerous spot,” Geilenfeldt said.

After a motion was made to add the stop sign, meeting attendee Harold Lanning asked if he could address the board and said he spends a lot of time at the intersection because his brother-in-law lives near it. Lanning told the board he didn’t have a problem with stop signs “if they were obeyed,” but he then contended that it didn’t always happen.

“I can tell you that the stop signs out there in my area, you might as well take the wood and make firewood out of them and sell the signs to salvage because they have not been obeyed,” Lanning said.

He was less enthusiastic about rumble strips, worrying about potential noise especially with engine braking already so prevalent in the area.

“Now they’re gonna be Jake Braking even further back and harder for a stop sign. The purpose is good, but enforcement would be wonderful,” Lanning said. “If you’re gonna have signs, let’s maintain them and let’s take care of them, and let’s get some enforcement out there. If anything, put a camera out there. You wanna raise some revenue, boy you could raise some revenue out there at that corner and probably at the corner of Wallace and Main Street Road because these signs are not being adhered to.”

The original motion was approved by a unanimous vote without any language regarding rumble strips. The supervisors indicated they could still consider rumble strips at a later date but wished to discuss that matter further first.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.