New Four-Way Stop Sign to be Erected

A new, four-way stop sign looks to be coming to the intersection of Pond-Grover Loop Road, Green Pines Drive and Hickory Crest Drive in Wildwood.

The area has been assessed by officials, and it was turned into a proposed ordinance discussed at Monday's city council meeting.

Ryan Thomas, Wildwood director of public works and city engineer, said vehicle drivers travel at high speeds on Pond-Grover Loop Road, and often cut the turn too short, which prompts them to veer over and drive into the oncoming lane.

Thomas said the intersection also receives steady traffic from drivers cutting through from Missouri Route 109 to Missouri Route 100.

During the public comment portion of Monday's meeting, Wildwood resident Jane Finnegan expressed that she and her neighbors living in the targeted area did not believe a stop sign would slow the rate of speed at which drivers go. "Does a stop sign make sense at a three-way intersection?" she posed. "I don't think it will achieve the goal."

Wildwood city council member David Geile (Ward 1) asked if the new stop sign area will be police-enforced right away.

Thomas said normally new stop signs are not used in quite that way but that new "stop ahead" signage will be placed prior to the stop sign to forewarn drivers.

"Some drivers have been going 30 miles per hour the length of the street. Now they will have to stop and at least intentionally accelerate again before reaching that speed," he said.