Remember The 4-Way Stop Rule Yakima? You May Have to Use It

Remember the 4-way stop rule? If you drive in Yakima this week you may have to use it.
Starting Monday, February 7, City of Yakima crews will perform  on all traffic signals in the city and depending on where you are at the time you may see flashing lights.

The work starts in Monday and continues for the next 8 weeks

A press release says during the next 8 weeks crews will be busy throughout the city and drivers may see slow downs during project work hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. City officials say during the maintenance, each signal will flash red in all directions for one to five minutes before normal operation resumes.
Drivers are again reminded to always pay attention to the current status of traffic signals.

Crews start work in the West Valley area on Monday

“When normal operation resumes, drivers often remain focused on the previous flashing red status and treat the intersection as a 4-way or all-way stop,” says Traffic Operations Supervisor Dan Nickoloff. “They can fail to notice that normal operation has resumed and that opposing traffic may now have a green light and continued right of way.”
A press release says the annual traffic signal maintenance project will begin Monday in the West Valley area. From there, crews will work from West to East across the city.

Some traffic may be disrupted city officials say just pay attention

“Maintenance crews will try to avoid disrupting arterial traffic flow during peak traffic hours,” says Nickoloff.
"Drivers are reminded that the speed limit through all traffic-related work zones within the City of Yakima is 20 miles-per-hour.
As always, the schedule for this type of project is subject to change daily dependent on weather, equipment failure, and emergencies.
For more information, contact Traffic Operations Supervisor Dan Nickoloff at 509-576-6746."