City resists installing four way stops around La Crosse middle school

They’re getting stop signs — just not the ones they wanted.

La Crosse Longfellow Middle School staff and others have pushed for four-way stop signs immediately around the school due to increasing and faster traffic going by in the mornings and afternoons.

The city said no to the four-ways but yes to other signs, including school crossing signs, which were strangely completely absent around the school, says teaching assistant Steve Korger.

“When I drove around, I was really shocked I could go five blocks, right along 21st Street and on 19th Street, and I got to Longfellow and there wasn’t a school crossing sign,” Korger said.

The signs that have been approved could be installed by the time school starts next week. There are plans to also add sidewalk bump-outs around the school as a way to slow traffic.

Along with adding school crossing signs, these are all of the planned changes to the area around Longfellow:

 Add a southbound stop sign at 20th & Denton
 Establish all-way stops at 21st & Denton and at 22nd & Denton
 Switch stop signs at 21st & Redfield from north-south to east-west
 Switch stop signs at 22nd & Redfield from north-south to east-west
 Install bump-outs on all corners at 20th & Denton and on all corners at 20th & Redfield

Korger just hopes it works.

“We’re hoping that when school starts,” Korger said, “that we arrive at school and there’s stop signs there, traffic is slow, students are crossing the street, staff is crossing the street and everybody is expecting this to be a safe school zone.”

The city has also offered some pedestrian crossing stanchions to put in crosswalks and police could more easily monitor the area the first week of school.