The Meridian City Council on Tuesday heard from concerned residents and project engineers about the need for a stop light at the intersection of A Street and 22nd Avenue.

The light had been included in the ongoing $4 million Sela Ward Parkway revitalization project but was recently removed.

Residents and business owners near the intersection said they are concerned the removal of the stop light would be unsafe for both motorists and pedestrians.

“It’s going to be a major obstacle once you remove that light,” said Joseph Gordon, who lives near the intersection. 

Business owner Roger Burke said he was concerned taking the light out would be a safety issue for pedestrians. The Sela Ward Parkway project, he said, was billed, in part, as an effort to improve pedestrian traffic.

The current plan calls for pedestrians moving between the MAX and Mississippi Children’s Museum- Meridian to cross 22nd. Avenue to go over the Front Street Bridge and then cross 22nd. Avenue again on the other side. Without the stoplight, Burke said, pedestrians would be unsafe crossing the road.

“One of the top priorities is to get pedestrians walking up and down 22nd Avenue, over the bridge and downtown,” he said. “Beautification is another factor, but if commerce is developed around that intersection, there are going to be more pedestrians there whether it becomes a retail corner, a parking corner, whether somebody decides they want to take that property and make a nice green space; that’s going to be even more pedestrians. And I believe those pedestrians have the right to pass 22nd Avenue at that intersection.”

Neil Shaffer engineer Gabe Faggard, who is serving as project manager for the  revitalization project, said there are several reasons the light was removed. The first, he said, is a 2019 traffic study that showed there were not enough cars to warrant a traffic light.

“The study concluded a traffic signal on A Street wasn’t warranted based on the traffic volume,” he said.

The second issue, Faggard said, is the bridge. The plans call for one lane of the bridge coming from downtown to be converted into a pedestrian walkway.

Currently, he said, there are two lanes, which provide enough space for cars to stop without causing a traffic jam on the bridge. When the project is complete, only one lane will be available, and a red light will cause traffic jams.

“So, picture with me, you’re crossing the bridge, and now you only have one lane on approach to A Street,” he said. “There’s not the room for cars to queue along two lanes. It’ll back up.”

The bridge also has an issue with being too steep, Faggard said. Current design standards call for a gentler slope, allowing for greater sight distances than when that bridge was built, he said.

At a speed limit of 35 mph, current design standards call for a sight distance of 250 feet before a stop light, Faggard said. At 30 mph, the sight distance drops to 200 feet. On the bridge, which has a speed limit of 35 mph, motorists have a sight distance of roughly 100 feet.

“You’d never be allowed to build a bridge like Front Street,” he said.

Faggard said the current plan calls for A Street to be a “right in, right out,” with cars turning right onto 22nd Avenue from A Street and cars turning right off of 22nd Avenue onto A Street. There would be no left turns, he said.

Instead of crossing at A Street, he said pedestrians could cross at the lights at B, D and E streets, giving them several opportunities before reaching the museum.

“The driveway to the museum is at E Street,” he said.

Whether or not to include a stop light at A Street will be decided by the city council. Faggard said there was still a month or so left before the project got to that stage, but the council would have to make a choice.

At some point in the project, the current stoplight at A Street will have to be removed. Council members could also wait to see if losing the light causes problems before making a decision, Faggard said.

The cost for a stop light, if included, was estimated at about $250,000.