Mount Olive: Be prepared to stop
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on September 23, 2009 1:46 PM
Full Size
Troy Herring
Mount Olive Public Works Supervisor Jammie Royal removes the plastic covering on one of the downtown area's new stop signs. The unveiling this morning changed a decades-old traffic pattern. Traffic on Center Street will now have to stop for traffic crossing the railroad tracks at Pollock, Main and James streets. The town was first approached in January by the state Department of Transportation and CSX Corp. Railroad about making the switch. Safety issues were cited for the change. Before the switch could be made the town had to add small concrete islands on which to place the new stop signs. In addition, changes were made in the parking pattern on the east side of the 100 block of South Center Street. Parking on that side of the street was at an angle on the storefront side and parallel next to the railroad tracks -- the opposite of parking along the northern blocks -- forcing northbound traffic to make a zig-zag motion.