CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — The Highway 5/American Legion Road intersection at Hurricane Deck Elementary is dangerous, according to a Sunrise Beach village official. Village leaders are joining with the Camdenton R-III School District to apply for money to fund a traffic study in hopes of landing a stoplight at the intersection.
The Sunrise Beach Board of Trustees and the Camdenton R-III School District Board of Education both recently approved partnering in the Traffic Engineering Application Program for the purpose of conducting a traffic study to determine if a traffic light is necessary at the intersection of Highway 5 and American Legion Road (Lake Road 5-33) in Sunrise Beach.
“This is a dangerous intersection,” Sunrise Beach City Planner Roger Corbin said. “There already has been one fatality, and the Hurricane Deck Elementary School buses exiting and entering the school are vulnerable, due to a sight-distance problem to the north.” Since the school’s expansion, traffic has increased at the intersection. According to Corbin, approximately 11,000 vehicles pass through the intersection daily.
Currently, the Sunrise Beach Police Department assigns an officer to the intersection every afternoon, which ties up their manpower. The Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District says they're in favor of installing a traffic light at the intersection, due to safety issues.
The study, which will count vehicles and turning movements, will be conducted by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). The total cost of the traffic study will be $10,000. If approved, MoDOT would fund 80 percent, and the village and the school district would contribute 10 percent each, or $1,000.
An application for the study submitted in 2016 was denied. A similar study has been utilized in Sunrise Beach to determine that the stoplight at Highway 5 and Route F was necessary.
