There’s only so many hits a traffic signal pole can take.

The signal pole — on the northwest corner of Jack Tone Road at Main Street in Ripon— needs to be replaced at a cost of $55,725.

Repeated strikes primarily by large trucks turning onto westbound Main Street from southbound Jack Tone Roads is to the point the pole finally needs to be replaced.

The city had previously installed a concrete K-rail barrier to protect the signal pole with limited success.

The Ripon City Council when they meet tonight at 6 p.m. will consider hiring St. Francis Electric to install a new pole that will be set farther back from the roadway.

Other enhancements that have been made to enhance the flow and safety of the intersection includes moving the eastbound West Ripon Road to northbound Jack Tone Road left turn limit line further to the west to allow more room for large rucks to make the turn without hitting the pole.

Ripon, during recent pavement upgrades, installed a new smart camera detection system to replace the existing in-road vehicle loop detectors.

The loops were damaged. That resulted in the signal timing no longer operating correctly.

The new system allowed for quicker operational adjustments and automated outage notifications.

Staff is work with a traffic engineer modify the current signal timing at the intersection to once again meter traffic during times of the day when a high volume of commute traffic is entering Ripon in order to avoid congestion on local roadways near the Main Street intersection.

The project is being covered by the Street and Road Operating Fund.