5 March 2024
HIAWATHA (KSNT) – The city of Hiawatha held a public meeting Monday night about what some believe is a dangerous intersection at 1st and Oregon. This comes after voiced concerns about broken traffic lights near a school and whether kids are safe walking in the area
A spokeswoman from KDOT tells 27 News, based on a traffic study, there’s not enough traffic at the intersection to meet the agency’s criteria to pay for a new traffic light. But that’s not stopping the city of Hiawatha from taking action.
In a busier part of town, close to the school, traffic and several kids cross this area every day. Now the city is trying to gather the best information possible to decide on its next move.
Whether that be to fund new traffic lights themselves, put in a two-way stop or conduct a study to fix the problem.
“What we are doing now, we are trying to get the best information possible to have the commission make the decision on what needs to be done on this Corridor,” Hiawatha Director of Public Works said.
“We have to have a stop light,” Hiawatha resident Phil Rockey said. “I run that road quite a bit every day. And if you don’t stop, these kids, they’re going to school at two different times in a day. In the morning and coming home at night. That has to have a stop light so they can cross safely.”
Being a farming community, another concern was to keep the intersection at four lanes and not reduced to three with the number of trucks and combines that go through.
Scott tells 27 News that discussions with KDOT are ongoing.
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