Four-way stops could be added to increase traffic control downtown

Rhinelander mayor Kris Hanus spoke to the potential creation of a four-way stop at Brown and Rives Streets and another at Brown and Frederick Streets during the Sept. 22 Rhinelander city council meeting. During a listening session earlier this year, the council had heard from residents that had concerns of people traveling in excess of the speed limit in the downtown area, reducing walkability and safety in that area. Residents called for these two intersections to become four-way stops, creating better traffic control and slowing drivers down. This matter came before the city council at their last meeting as well.

“If we do move forward with doing this, it would probably make more sense to do that going into winter,” Mayor Hanus said. “That way our general public here gets used to it through winter and as our vacationers come back next year — versus trying to make this move next summer with increased traffic.”

“I can see the need for having a four-way stop there,” city administrator Patrick Reagan said. “Before we move forward with this, and if you do that’s great, but if you decide to move forward with this, I would implore you to have a traffic engineer take care of it. My only concern is, would there be any stacking issues on Brown Street?” 

Reagan said it was a great reason to do a traffic study.

Rhinelander police chief Lloyd Gauthier said one of his concerns would be, in the winter time, traffic traveling north on Brown Street. If it was slippery, he said, some vehicles might have trouble accelerating to get through the intersection. 

“But definitely in the last three or four years, that part of Brown Street, all the way up to Rives and past Frederick has exploded with new businesses,” Gauthier said. 

There is also school drop off in that area, as well as some visibility issues. 

“Anything we can do to slow traffic down would be helpful,” Gauthier said. 

This would also improve pedestrian safety. He did not have great concerns about traffic stacking up for the most part, but he did reiterate his concern over vehicles being able to accelerate from the stop sign at Frederick Street if road conditions were slippery and snowy.

Gauthier said there could also be some issues with visibility of the stop signs, with the parking spaces going up almost to the intersections themselves. Reagan said there would be a number of things that could be done such as installing flags on the stop signs, painting stop bars, and even stencil a “stop ahead” in the street.

Alderman Tom Barnett asked, should the city find there were traffic stacking issues or some other unforeseen reason the four-way stops were not working out, how difficult it would be to remove those. Reagan said it would not be difficult at all to remove a stop sign. Mayor Hanus said there was potential that, once the public had been trained to stop for the stop sign, even once it was removed, there may still be people who would stop. 

“I do think, no matter which way we go, we do need a traffic study done, though,” Barnett said. 

From an operations standpoint, Mayor Hanus said, because the council had tabled the proposed “Official Traffic Map and Control Devices” ordinance that detailed all of the stop signs within the city, as well as the map showing those signs, if the council wanted to add the two four-way stops under discussion, they could direct the city to add those to the map, which would be coming back at the next council meeting for approval. 

Earlier in the meeting, connectivity issues for one of the aldermen attending virtually, who had question about the “Official Traffic Map and Control Devices” ordinance, caused that ordinance as well as the map that would delineate all of the city’s stop signs, to be tabled. Those connectivity issues were rectified before the rest of the meeting. However, city attorney Steve Sorenson said, in order for those two stop signs to be added to the map, an ordinance to that fact would need to be approved prior. 

“Your ordinances say where your stop signs are at,” he told the council. “You don’t give anybody the authority to put stop signs up, other than the council.”

Alderman Steven Jopek said he would like to see the matter come back when the ordinance was prepared.

Alderman Gerald Anderson said he was not convinced the city needed a traffic study to go ahead, but he did feel there should be a public listening session. 

“Anything that disturbs what people are used to in their driving needs some public consideration,” he said. 

Sorenson said the council could hold a public hearing for any ordinance they would like to, but he did not remember ever having a public hearing before installation of a stop sign. 

Alderperson Carrie Mikalauski agreed, saying the matter was agendized, giving the public ample space to come in and speak on the issue, if they would so choose. She said she thought it best to approve the Rives Street four-way stop first, and then decide on the Frederick Street next. Mayor Hanus said the city would bring the ordinance back and the board would have the option to approve either, or both, of those four-way stops.

Courtney Street parking lot egresses

The removal of egresses to the Courtney Street parking lots also came back to the council meeting this week.

Alderman Bob Lueder said, although the matter had already been voted on, and the work complete, he had been contacted by the owner of Carpetiers, who had also come to speak at the previous meeting, as well as at this council meeting, stating that the loss of that egress had made it difficult for his vendors to deliver to his establishment. Kurt Hildebrand, the owner, had said he had concerns as to whether he would continue to get all of his deliveries, or if he may be forced to add the additional expense of keeping much of his product for installation offsite.

One of the reasons the council voted to do away with the egress had to do with traffic and concerns about accidents. Another consideration was, because the parking lot was in a TIF district, when those parking lots would get repaved, there would be a requirement of a certain amount of green space at that time. 

Mayor Hanus said all of those factors, including any potential delivery issues, had been considered before the board approved the work. He said, with parking spots being gained with the egresses being removed, there was a possibility to reconfigure the parking to facilitate large trucks backing in to loading ramps, for instance.

Mikalauski said she agreed that it was a moot point, as the work had already been completed, and no public comment was made prior to the work even being started. 

Alderman Bob Lueder said he would like to see a plan created for the parking lot that would better facilitate large trucks accessing loading docks. He asked for a plan to be brought back to the next meeting as to what parking places would need to be removed.

Other business

The council approved the mayor creating an agreement with the Northwoods Nordic Ski Club for maintenance of the Nordic Ski Trails. Reagan said he had gone back to 2016 and had seen that the city had historically agreed to this arrangement in the past.

Another matter was to set a public hearing for the discontinuation of a portion of the Navajo Street right-of-way. The council had approved this measure in the past, Reagan said, and had “started the train down the tracks,” and this would be the next step. Setting this date would allow the clerk to publish the public hearing for the needed 40 days and notifying all of the adjacent property owners. That public hearing was approved to be set for 6 p.m. on Nov. 10.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].