New Port Richey’s City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to approve installation of a four-way stop sign intersection signal at the intersection of Illinois Ave and Lafayette St.

The move comes amid 55 households of the West Madison neighborhood uniting and hiring an attorney who represented them at the meeting. The city cited its engineering study of the traffic pattern as showing that there was a half mile of uninterrupted road but that speeding was not a significant issue. However, the engineer recommended the installation anyway for public safety reasons.

The West Madison group’s attorney further cited other public safety needs at the address and one resident from that corner also added that her son had moved from the location over safety concerns for her grandchildren.

In the end, council approved the measure unanimously. Mayor Rob Marlowe said that he was “glad that we could take care of this for you, and sooner rather than later.” Councilman Jeff Starkey said that he was “glad they brought this to our attention.” Other council members made similar comments of support before voting “Yes.”

by Jon Tietz