BonnerSprings.com

After nearly half a year, a stoplight will return to the intersection of Cedar and Front streets.

The intersection has been a four-way stop — though rare is the vehicle coming from the dirt road south of Front — since high winds blew down one of the traffic-light poles in April.

Kevin Bruemmer, Public Works director for Bonner Springs, said contractor Total Electric had just received the equipment for the all-new signals — poles, lights and wiring — said the work should be finished within a couple of weeks.

The installation shouldn’t require much in the way of tearing up ground, Bruemmer said, because all the necessary conduits already are in place.

While it’s been four months since the City Council approved the contract with Total Electric for designing and ordering the lights from a manufacturer, Bruemmer said it was a “standard lead time.”

”It’s not something people keep on the lot,” he said. “It’s manufactured at the time of the order.”

That’s because there are varying pole heights and lengths, and materials not normally kept on hand, Bruemmer said.

The new stoplights will offer some advantages over the former ones at Cedar and Front.

For one, they’ll use LED lights for the signals, which will use less electricity and require less maintenance, because they last longer than incandescent lights.

The Bonner Springs Police Department has not reported any accidents at the intersection since April, which might make some residents ponder the wisdom of spending $140,000 on traffic signals when a four-way stop seems to be working.

The answer is that by the time City Council members had raised the question, the city already had been given the Council’s OK to contract with Total Electric for the signals.

In addition, City Manager John Helin said, the intersection is too complex to continue as a four-way stop for traffic-safety purposes.

“While it’s working OK, it’s not optimal,” he said, “since it’s essentially a six-lane intersection,” with four lanes on Front and two on Cedar.

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