Nose for News, By Sarah Stultz

It’s hard to believe that six months have already passed since the Albert Lea City Council approved placing temporary stop signs at the intersection of Frank Hall Drive and Eighth Street.

At that intersection a little more than 10 months ago, my daughter, Sophie, was struck by a car while riding her bicycle and ultimately died at the hospital less than two hours later.

Thinking about the temporary stop signs and all the work we went through to get those approved brings back a flood of emotions as we prepared to go before the council again Monday night — this time hoping the signs would be placed permanently.

According to Albert Lea City Engineer Steven Jahnke, there have not been any crashes at the intersection in the last six months since the signs were installed. City staff periodically reviewed the intersection to make sure the three-way stop was not creating or causing any new traffic or pedestrian issues, and staff observed the intersection for two hours at a time in both the morning and afternoon on March 28 and 30. During those observations, a majority of vehicles slowed to a rolling stop at the signs — with very few vehicles actually stopping, according to reports.

Ultimately, city staff said they would be in favor of the intersection either with or without the signs and recommended the council take public input on the issue for two weeks.

I think it’s clear where I stand on this issue. Though I think more can be done to make sure people are obeying the traffic signs and coming to a complete stop, I think any stop — even a rolling stop — is better than no stop at all. The point of the stop signs is to help people raise awareness  of their surroundings, to encourage them to slow down and to get people to look before proceeding.

Obviously, I am a biased on this issue, but I would hope people would be in favor of keeping the signs, as I believe they bring added safety to the neighborhood, especially when there are many places along Frank Hall Drive without sidewalks for people to walk or ride their bikes.

The council has asked that people contact them with their thoughts. People can speak out at the next meeting May 22, or they can contact their councilors at the following phone numbers or emails:

• Vern Rasmussen Jr., mayor, 507-377-1540, mayor@ci.albertlea.mn.us

• Rich Murray, 1st Ward councilor, 507-383-1530, rmurray@ci.albertlea.mn.us

• Larry Baker, 2nd Ward councilor, 507-402-6313, lbaker@ci.albertlea.mn.us

• Jason Howland, 3rd Ward councilor, 507-438-1098, jhowland@ci.albertlea.mn.us

• Reid Olson, 4th Ward councilor, 507-373-2769, reolson@ci.albertlea.mn.us

• Robert Rasmussen, 5th Ward councilor, 507-402-6528, rrasmussen@ci.albertlea.mn.us

• Al “Minnow” Brooks, 6th Ward councilor, 507-373-9024, abrooks@ci.albertlea.mn.us

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.