The city of Livonia has been making changes to the traffic signing in our neighborhood and throughout the city as they strive to become compliant with the Michigan Manual on Uniform Traffic Devices (MMUTCD).  The intent of these changes is to enhance the safety of our residents.

Several members of our neighborhood have voiced concerns over these changes, especially the changes at West Chicago and Harrison.  For that reason, I have contacted the City to get some more information on this intersection, and I wanted to share with you what I discovered. 

According to the MMUTCD, the minimum requirements for a 4-way stop are that the number of vehicles entering the intersection from the major street approaches averages at least 300 vehicles per hour for any 8 hours of an average day, and the combined vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle volume entering the intersection from the minor street approaches averages at least 200 units per hour for the same 8 hours.  To put that in perspective, there would need to be one car every 12 seconds on West Chicago and one car, bike, or pedestrian every 18 seconds on Harrison Road for an 8 hour period. 

I contacted Sgt. Studt from the Livonia Police Department, and he told me that according to a survey done in October, West Chicago handles about 1600 vehicles per day and Harrison handles about 600 a day.  This is nowhere near the minimum volumes for a 4-way stop. 

I hope this helps to shed some light on what the requirements are for a 4-way stop sign and why the city has been removing them in our neighborhood.