Church, Main Street intersection to become four-way stop

By Lauren Royce —

OWEGO — The intersection of Church and Main Street in Owego will change to a four-way stop beginning Nov. 2. The Owego Village Board of Trustees resolved to make the change during a meeting on Sept. 2. 

The public comment portion of the meeting opened with Owego residents offering their thoughts and concerns on the matter. One resident read a letter from a fellow resident asking the trustees to implement a stop sign at the intersection of Church and Main Streets, where there is a yellow blinking traffic light.

“Even when cars are not parked nearby, it is still difficult to see if there is any oncoming traffic,” the letter read. “The other day I poked my nose out and thought it was clear, but had to floor it to avoid being hit by a car I did not see. A four-way stop would prevent this from being an issue.” 

He also countered the popular idea of removing parking spots in front of the movie theater to solve the issue.

“As you’re going north and look left to try to see if there’s oncoming traffic, the times when the sun is low on the horizon in the evening,” he said, “it’s hard to pick out cars, particularly the darker-colored ones, coming at you out of the sun.” The resident said he had lived in the village since 2008 and remembered stoplights being there before, and felt it would be a safer and more effective way of controlling traffic.

Another resident said she had concerns about vehicle and pedestrian safety and right of way expectations.

“For people coming into the village who are unaware of that area, if they don’t know that they should creep out because it’s a dangerous section, I think that’s just going to cause more problems as far as bringing people into the town,” she said.

Another resident, Laura Young, chimed in via Zoom. “If that’s going to work, do it,” she said. “I’ve had both my mail carriers nearly get hit there,” and added, “I’ve gone to the movie theater, and I’ve seen near accidents.”

Trustee Laura Spencer offered a report on what the traffic study gathered.

“The traffic study for the intersection goes over the analysis for the vehicles and their volumes, crashes,” Spencer said. “It didn’t meet the warrant for crashes to change the signal, but they outlined the procedure for all the different options we had.” The options included how to cover the sign, remove it, and how long to keep up the old infrastructure. Spencer advised the board to look at that before doing anything. 

There was some debate about what kind of replacement should be put in and how long approval for the project might take before concluding what to do. The motion passed, and the trustees agreed that notice would be given out via local newspapers and other bulletins that the new traffic stop would be in effect on Nov. 2.