Lantana officials look at adding stop signs

Lantana’s two Fresh Water Supply District boards voted at their July meeting to get a quote for an engineering study to determine if stop signs should be added to four intersections along Lantana Trail.

The intersections in question are Stacee Lane, Rayzor Road, Branch Crossing, and Bonham Parkway.  Click for map.

There are currently no stop signs on Lantana Trail, which is a four-lane, divided thoroughfare that runs three miles through the middle of the master planned development and has a posted speed limit of 40 mph.

Board members debated at length about the issue, and some on the FWSD #6 board expressed their willingness to add the stop signs without a traffic study.

“Just being able to break down Lantana Trail into a couple different sections I think merits consideration regardless of if a specific intersection has the traffic that warrants it,” said FWSD #6 President Jim VanVickle. “Right now we’ve got like a speedway going up and down there.”

Not everyone agreed that stops signs are the answer.

“I did a lot of research and I have yet to find one study that has demonstrated that stop signs increase safety or reduce pedestrians being struck by cars,” said FWSD #7 President David Ware.

VanVickle pointed out that conducting a study will further delay the implementation of the stop signs.

“One of the problems with that traffic study is if we wait to do a real accurate study then we have to wait until school gets back in,” said VanVickle

The intersection of Stacee Lane and Lantana Trail was the focus of much of the discussion in the wake of an accident in April where an 8-year-old girl was struck by a vehicle on her way to Blanton Elementary School.

“I think that Stacee Ln. is an intersection specifically that we have acknowledged over and over again is unsafe,” said VanVickle. “We have attempted to correct it…our General Manager originally recommended that we do the 3-way stop signs. Nobody is knee jerking here.”

In the end, both boards voted unanimously to get a quote from the district’s engineering firm on the scope of a study and how much it would cost.

The boards will meet in August to review the proposed study and then decide whether to move forward with it.

Discussion also took place regarding hiring a crossing guard for the Stacee Lane/Lantana Trail school zone crosswalk but no action was taken.