Detroit Lakes city council approves new four-way stop, use of portable radar systems on South Shore Drive

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Detroit Lakes city council approved two public safety items on Tuesday in an attempt to make city streets a little bit safer.

Councilmembers approved a new four-way stop at the Summit Avenue and Holmes Street intersection near the Detroit Lakes Community and Cultural Center.

The intersection had previously been a two-way stop on Holmes Street and shifted to a temporary four-way during the Summit Avenue road project.

In discussions with the city’s public safety committee, Ron Zeman, alderman first ward, said the city engineer told the committee the intersection had enough crash incidents to warrant keeping the intersection a four-way stop after construction concludes in coming weeks.

“Jon (Pratt) he went back and did a study and there has been enough accidents that meets the need for a four-way stop,” said Zeman. “And he’s recommending we put in a four-way stop and the (public safety) committee agreed with him and I so move that we go ahead with the four-way stop.”

The four-way stop was approved on a 7-1 vote with Matt Boeke, alderman third ward, voting against the measure. Wendy Spry, alderman at-large, was absent at the meeting and did not cast a vote.

The council also approved the use of two portable speed radar systems on South Shore Drive in an effort to reduce the number of speeding vehicles on the southside of the lake.

Jon Pratt, city engineer for Detroit Lakes, said not only will the speeds be displayed to the drivers, which should decrease speeds, but the systems will also collect some data so the city has better data on traffic flow on the southside of the lake.

“The city does have two portable radar signs and those have proven to be fairly effective in terms of dealing with speed compliance,” said Pratt. “And the other advantage is that those signs actually collect data that we can download from and try to get a handle on how much of a problem, or if there is a problem in terms of speeding and what the compliance rate is. So that seems like a logical first step and I think that’s what the committee was going to recommend as an initial step.”

He also said, while other options for are also being considered, the portable radars should make an impact on reducing vehicle speeds.