Fairfield schools, city install rotating stop signs on South Main

FAIRFIELD — The city of Fairfield and Fairfield Community School District have collaborated to install a new set of rotating stop signs at the intersection of South Main Street and Fillmore Avenue, a heavily traveled intersection east of the Fairfield Middle School and Pence Elementary School.

During school pick-up and drop-off, the district has been rolling mobile stop signs into the center of the intersection to create a four-way stop. Fairfield Public Works Director and City Engineer Melanie Carlson said the Iowa Department of Transportation asked the school to replace the rolling stop signs because they’re too short.

“The DOT wants their signs to be 7 feet tall, and these are way less than that,” Carlson said.

To accommodate taller signs, the district and city decided to abandon the rolling signs in favor of permanent signs installed on the side of the road that can rotate, so they’re only in effect during school pick-up and drop-off. Carlson said that having a 7-foot rolling stop sign would have been prone to falling over in the wind.

“It would need to have such a heavy base that it would be horrible to move,” she said. “And it would probably fall over anyway.”

Carlson said most school districts in the state are transitioning toward rotating stop signs at heavily trafficked intersections.

“Standardization on highways is very important and helps with safety,” Carlson said. “A stop sign looks like a stop sign everywhere, and it’s how international drivers understand it, too.”

The new signs are already up, and to get motorists accustomed to them, the school district will be using both the rotating signs and the rollout signs now through January. After January, it will stop using the rollout signs at that intersection.

“Assuming the school likes the way this works, we may do this at more places that use rollout stop signs,” Carlson said, noting that the district also uses them on Sixth Street near Pence Elementary and the middle school.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com