Solar-powered flashing stop signs to be installed at the intersection of 10th Drive and 5th Place SE after Austin City Council meeting Monday evening

The Austin City Council received a detailed presentation at their Monday meeting concerning the four-way stop at the intersection of 10th Drive and 5th Place SE. Local residents and businesses have brought forward concerns to the city and law enforcement about the number of near-miss crashes they have seen at the intersection from people not stopping at the four-way stop. Public Works Director Steven Lang stated to the council during the presentation that video cameras were installed at the intersection from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on May 1st, and from 7:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. on June 1st to monitor traffic, and Lang stated that the video surveillance showed what was termed “countless” clips of rolling stops, over 80 clips of vehicles slowing but clearly not stopping, six vehicles that blew through the stop sign without slowing and one near accident.  Lang added that these incidents have been occurring despite the fact that from 2012 to July of 2019, the intersection averaged 2.4 crashes per year when it was a two-way stop, compared to 1.6 crashes per year from August of 2019 to the present time as a four-way stop.  Austin Mayor Steve King spoke with KAUS during the “Meet the Mayor” segment of “Wright Here, Right Now” and stated that the stop signs will be replaced with solar-powered flashing stop signs to make stop signs on 10th Drive SE more visible, and to handle peak hour traffic effectively…

The intersection was a two-way stop from 1920 to 2016, a two-way stop with rectangular rapid flashing beacons from 2016 to 2019, and it has been a four-way stop from August of 2019 to the present time.