Broadway and Central intersection criticized

A downtown intersection might benefit from a four-way stop.

Residents who work downtown know all too well the dangers of the intersection at Central and Broadway streets. Though accidents are minimal, frustration and close calls are plentiful.

Amber Knight, who works at a business on Central Street, said that the intersection is a daily annoyance for her.

Each day she creeps into the intersection because she can't see oncoming vehicles while stopped at the stop sign.

"It's either risk it and go or inch forward and let people see me," she said. "Oftentimes people stop on Broadway and let me go, but I was already inching forward."

Part of the problem is a parking spot that is still being used even though the city blacked out the line to discourage the spot's use.

"You can't see oncoming traffic at all -- there's an erased parking spot at the intersection and people still park there," Knight said. "I think a four-way stop there would help."

Knight said the best way to check for oncoming traffic is to look into the windows of businesses on Broadway Street and look for movement.

"I use the reflections in the windows to tell if cars are coming," Knight said. "I am surprised there are not more accidents and I am surprised I haven't gotten T-boned."

Meredith Bergstrom, executive director for Main Street Siloam Springs, said that she wonders if anyone has asked the city for a stop sign at the intersection and if they haven't she would be willing to request one.

"The visibility is terrible," Bergstrom said.

Randy Atkinson, city public services manager, said that in the 11 years he has worked for the city he has never had anyone ask for a stop sign or lodge a complaint about the intersection.

"I've never had a formal complaint, but I have had a couple of people mention it," Atkinson said.

Main Street Siloam Springs' Downtown and Connectivity Master Plan does not explicitly call for a stop sign at the intersection, but the idea is to create a walkable district, Bergstrom said.

"Requesting a stop sign would respond well to the ethics of the plan and it would fit well with one of the cornerstones of the plan, which is re-balanced transportation," Bergstrom said. "I would be happy to sit down with the city and have a conversation if that's what we need to do."

Glenita Guthrie who owns Siloam Springs Printing, which sits on the northwest corner of the intersection, said she also uses the windows to check for oncoming traffic, but said that not all people do it and she has seen numerous close calls. Her front windows look out onto the intersection.

"It's a very dangerous intersection -- I've seen one accident," she said. "We hear a lot of honking horns, but there haven't been a lot of accidents."

Guthrie said that a four-way stop would be better, but she hates to do that because it could impede downtown traffic.

Both Guthrie and Knight mentioned that outside of the dangers of the intersection, that every day they see people going the wrong way down Central Street -- it is open for one-way traffic going east.

"Every day multiple people are going down this road the wrong way," Knight said. "I think a four-way stop would resolve all the issues even if people continue to park in the non-existent parking spot."