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Flashy new signs set for four-way stop

A dangerous Pinellas Park intersection will receive solar-powered, lighted stop signs.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published June 22, 2005

PINELLAS PARK - Stop signs have worked just fine for 100 years or so, but city officials are ready to try the next-generation stop sign - one powered by the sun.

Yes, Pinellas Park is preparing to install solar-powered stop signs at 82nd Avenue and 60th Street N. Unlike the old-fashioned kind, these signs don't just stand there.

"They do quite a bit," said Rick Eggers, the city's traffic director.

Each sign has six light emitting diodes. The LEDs, which are powered by the sun, flash day and night. They're a bit dimmer at night so as not to blind drivers, Eggers said.

But that does not mean drivers won't be able to see them.

"I think they're claiming that they're visible for 2 miles at night," Eggers said.

Pinellas Park, he said, may be the first Pinellas government to use the signs because they are so new.

The intersection of 82nd and 60th was chosen because it's a four-way stop that has had some severe accidents. The accidents, Eggers said, tend to happen at right angles, when one car runs a stop and hits another in the side.

Officials will also install some tape that will help outline the lines at that intersection, he said. The idea is to make the road markings stand out.

At about $900 each, the new signs are not cheap. But they are worth it, Eggers said.

Because the signs are solar, the city will not have to pay the electric bill for them, he said. The signs, which are expected to be installed in the next four or five weeks, will look pretty much like a normal stop sign - a big, red octagon. But they will also have the flashing lights on the front.

[Last modified June 22, 2005, 01:08:17]