Sturgeon Bay's city engineer is providing his thoughts on this week's City Council decision to eliminate stop signs on Egg Harbor road near the old Hardee's building.
Tony Depies says before it was rebuilt in 2011 the junction of Egg Harbor Road, Georgia Street and 8th Avenue was one intersection with five legs. Now he says it should be looked at as two separate intersections. He says when viewed that way having Egg Harbor traffic flow through it "makes perfect sense."
Depies agrees that it's a hot-button issue...
Depies says the current configuration would have caused "significant delays" when the Bayview Bridge closes for repairs next year and forces an extra 12,700 vehicles a day to travel through the city.
Depies says the city did consider a roundabout for that location but it was deemed it too expensive. "We did look at the possibility of purchasing the Hardee's building," says Depies. "In fact when we talked with the owners one of the things we discussed was if we purchased the building they would build a new one on Egg Harbor Road so we wouldn't lose the business. The price just came in too far out of our reach."
The City Council Tuesday voted 4-2 in favor of a recommendation by the Parking & Traffic Committee to remove the stop signs on Egg Harbor Road at both 8th Avenue and Georgia Street.
Depies says they're looking at taking the stop signs down by late August. Prior to that he says the city will get the word out about the change through the media, by putting up temporary signage near the intersections, and by contacting Georgia Street residents directly.
