Stop sign considered on Main near Batavia High School

Main Street's days as an uninterrupted way to get from Route 31 to Randall Road in Batavia are numbered.

The city wants to put a stop sign up at Millview Drive, where the new exit from a revamped Batavia High School parking lot is. It would turn the intersection into a four-way stop.

And it wants to knock the speed limit down to 30 mph, from Randall Road to Van Nortwick Avenue.

The stop sign was OK'd by the city council's city services committee Tuesday night, pending the completion of an engineering study by City Engineer Noel Basquin. Once that is done, the matter will be brought to the full city council for a vote.

Batavia police counted about 9,800 vehicles passing through the intersection on a day in mid-May. The average speed was 39 mph.

Right now, drivers leaving the parking lot on the south side of the school have to assess traffic in three directions before entering the intersection. And unlike before, when there were two openings to the parking lot, all pedestrians crossing Main are now directed to use a crosswalk at Millview. The new parking lot also eliminated an awkward jog drivers had to make if they wanted to go south on Millview after leaving the lot.

The plan calls for adding a left-turn lane on eastbound Main at the entrance to the school.

The Batavia school district supports the plan.

The school lies between Wilson and Main. Its front entrance is on the Main Street side. The school us undergoing a three-year expansion and renovation project. Its parking lots were redesigned this summer.

The committee held off on approving the speed limit request. Instead, it wants it considered as part of a package, including lowering the limit on McKee Street west of Van Nortwick, and Wilson Street east of Raddant Road. All are 35 mph zones.

"Those are holdovers from 20-plus years ago," said Ald. Jim Volk, chairman of the committee. There's more development, and more driveways built along those stretches, leading to more pedestrian, bicyclist and vehicle traffic, he said.

In 2000, the city put a stop sign on Wilson at Raddant. "That's been a real plus," Volk said. "I pushed really hard for that one."