The traffic light at the Main Street and HWY 5 intersection is down after a Super B collided with the traffic pole and knocked it over at around 5:15 pm on Jan. 26.
The driver tried to take a right hand turn from Main St. going onto HWY 5 heading east but did not take it wide enough, says Director of Public Works, Peter Bergquist.
After hitting the pole, the traffic light came down low enough to catch on the last trailer and the pole went with the semi to the outskirts of town before the driver got the pole off.
“Traffic poles are pretty strong, but they can only take so much,” says Bergquist.
Insurance wise, everything has been addressed between the city and the company that the driver was trucking for. The city is now waiting for quotes on repairs before it can be fixed, which is going to cause the most delays, says Bergquist.
There will also be checks to ensure that all parts still work.
“The base will have to be replaced, so that is a major one that typically isn’t needed when one gets struck but the bolts in the base get wrecked pretty bad.”
The intersection has now been turned into a four-way stop, which has been working well, says Bergquist.
“I noticed on Facebook there is some concerns about how people are using it but in general, it’s functioning pretty well,” says Bergquist.
The corner is a sharp radius for trucks to make turns but usually truckers do not have a problem.
When turning lanes are added, the city is required to buy the property to give truckers lots of space. Unfortunately, they were not able to buy the space for the right hand turn turning east at that corner.
The city is in talks to purchase that land.
“Trucks have made this turn regularly. This one, he just did not gauge it properly.”
The city is anticipating three weeks before the traffic pole is fixed and at this time there has been not indication that, that time frame will be shortened.
Bergquist says the city appreciates people taking more care at the temporary four-way stop.
