Four-way stop at Market Ave. and 2nd St. starts Mon. April 27
Stop signs are installed and will be uncovered Monday morning
JENSEN EDWARDS - Apr. 23, 2020 - Grand Forks Gazette
Heads up to Grand Forks motorists who use 2nd Street through downtown: as of Monday, April 27, the intersection of
Market Avenue and 2nd Street will be a permanent four-way stop.
Historically, the corner (anchored by CIBC, ServiceBC, The Borscht Bowl and The Wooden Spoon) has only had stop signs for vehicles travelling on Market Avenue, which runs east-west through the downtown core.
The switch to a four-way stop has been floating around for several years, but was spurred on by a downtown development consultant last summer. Grand Forks city council gave the change the go-ahead last November.
“A four-way stop at that intersection would do more than just traffic calming,” Amber Esovoloff, president of the Downtown Business Association, said last fall. ”It’s to get people to stop at that intersection and pause and consider coming downtown rather than just burning on through to the 2nd Street bridge.”
An ICBC report presented to council in November did not recommend changing traffic patterns at the intersection, but councillors reasoned that the report didn’t take into account the “near-misses” experienced by pedestrians or the business benefits created by slowing traffic down at the intersection.
“The engineering report is fine on reported accidents,” said Coun. Christine Thompson at the November meeting, “but I am aware and have been advised that there’s been a whole raft of near-misses, and those aren’t taken into consideration in the report.”
The City is currently studying traffic at 72nd Avenue and 2nd Street to determine if a four-way stop should also be installed at that intersection.
From the Grand Forks Gazette