[10/29/03]A third traffic light will be placed on U.S. 61 North, this one where nine wrecks with injuries have occurred so far this year.

State transportation officials said Tuesday the new fixture will be at Culkin Road and will be installed early in 2004.

“It’s certainly a positive for us especially, but also for this stretch of road, because it’s busier and busier every day,” said Michael Jones, owner of Helping Hand Family Pharmacy, which opened at the intersection about nine months ago. “Traffic is growing and growing, especially at the busiest times of the day.”

Dick Hall, who chairs the state’s three-member transportation commission and represents the district that includes Warren County, made the announcement.

Development along both sides of U.S. 61 from Interstate 20 to Bowie Road has been intense in recent years. The first signal went in at Bowie about four years ago, followed by lights at the River Region Medical Center-Sherman Avenue School intersection in February 2002. The Culkin site, which includes an overpass, has a lot of crossover traffic. The intersection has averaged a wreck or more a month for at least two of the last three years. This year’s total through Tuesday was 12, including the nine with injuries, E-911 dispatch center records show.

“People come barreling through the intersection at Culkin Road to get across the highway,” Jones said. Getting a traffic signal is “something that everybody out here’s been looking forward to,” he added.

Due to the danger, many drivers who want to go South on 61 from Culkin Road cross over and loop back from Sherman Avenue. The signal will be set to not stop traffic on U.S. 61 North unless sensors connected to it detect Culkin Road traffic waiting at the intersection, said Walter Lyons, MDOT district engineer.

For traffic southbound on 61 trying to turn east onto Culkin Road, there will be no protected turn arrow, at least initially, Lyons said. The volume of traffic making left turns does not seem sufficient for that, he said. Changes could be made when needed.

Supervisor David McDonald, in whose District 1 the intersection lies, asked the MDOT earlier this year to improve safety at the intersection, the MDOT news release said. The department has been “working two or three years to try to make a decision as to what’s best for the whole area out there,” McDonald added. “I’m just glad to see them finally commit to doing something.”

McDonald said he approached MDOT officials about three years ago, but was told they would prefer to wait until after the hospital opened.

Lyons said the MDOT rejected a plan to close westbound Culkin Road from using the connector ramp, leaving the overpass-to-Sherman Avenue route as the only alternative.

“My opinion is a light will be much better,” said Richard Stuart, a resident of the Fairways subdivision in northeastern Warren County. “The only negative I can see is that people will complain that there are too many lights. Quite frankly, that’s a small price to pay for the safety you’ll get (with the signal).”

Also at the county level during 2002, a connector road from Culkin Road at Mount Alban Road to the ring road around River Region was considered and rejected.

About 24,000 vehicles a day traveled U.S. 61 North between Interstate 20 and Bowie Road, according to MDOT figures from 2000. That was the city’s highest non-Interstate 20 traffic count. It compared with the 51,000 count on Interstate 20 between the U.S. 61 North and Clay Street interchanges, the city’s busiest stretch of road.