Loss of traffic signs are a good sign of the times

By Patricia Bogumil

Editor

Sometime in November, expect the (in)famous backed-up three-way stop at First and Main streets in the Village of Waterford to be a thing of the past.

“Won’t it be great?!” Village Administrator Rebecca Ewald said Tuesday afternoon.

With the demolition Sunday of the former RiverHouse Pub and Grill at First and Main, a project to install permanent traffic lights at the intersection is moving forward, she explained.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) expects to have contracts awarded and traffic lights installed there sometime in November, said Ewald.

Which will mean the loss of yet another community icon.

Once the new traffic signals replace the three-way stop signs, the sheriff’s deputy paid to stand in traffic and wave cars and trucks along in rush hours will be reassigned to other police duties in the Village, Ewald said.

A pile of rubble now sits fenced off at the corner where the RiverHouse stood for many years. The goal set by the DOT is to have all the rubble removed, and the site graded and seeded, by Aug. 1, Ewald said.

Reconstruction of highways 20 and 83 in the Village is set for 2018. Some minor work could be done at the intersection of First and Main streets beforehand, Ewald said, but plans do not call for construction of a turn lane there ahead of the 2018 project.

Sunday morning, a few community members were on hand to speak with the contractor in charge of demolishing the RiverHouse.

Their idea is to try and save for historical purposes at least part of the entry steps to the building, which contains two ancient animal fossils that patrons noticed over the years, said freelance photographer Terry Alby. One of his photos of the RiverHouse takedown accompanies the print edition of this story.

Editor’s note: The print edition and an earlier version of this online story incorrectly referred to the intersection as a four-way rather than three-way stop.