The City of Ripon recently completed work on the intersection of West Milgeo Avenue and North Acacia Avenue.

Additional stop signs changed this intersection located east of Highway 99 from a two-way stop to a four-way stop.

Along with the additional stop signs, the city added thermoplastic striping for limited lines and crosswalks.

According to the Ripon Police Department, this intersection was deemed hazardous due to the increased amount of traffic collisions during the past two years.

In order to make changes, police indicated that the California Vehicle Code, in conforming with the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, required the monitoring of this area for vehicle volumes, pedestrian volumes and vehicle / pedestrian conflicts.

“Stop signs should be used for speed control,” said the MUTCD, which also needed vehicle accident data in the evaluation – that’s a total of 12 accidents since 2015 in a highly used route by school children, according to the report.

Due to the number of complaints, police, in partnership with the engineering department, kept a watchful eye on this intersection as well.

“It should be noted that the No. 1 cause of collisions at the intersection (was that) drivers stopped at the stop signs at North Acacia Avenue, pulling out in front of approaching vehicles traveling either east or west on West Milgeo Avenue, believing that those vehicles should also stop at the intersection,” police said.

Work began on converting the intersection into a four-way stop with the appropriate roadway markings and crosswalks officially kicked off in December.