By Mary O’KEEFE

Drivers along Honolulu Avenue will be slowing down as they drive through Montrose after new stop signs were installed this week.

“We were planning on installing the [three] way signs as part of the Trader Joe’s [plan] at Honolulu and Orangedale (avenues),” said Steve Zurn, director of Glendale Public Works.

Trader Joe’s market has been approved and is now under construction in the 2500 block of Honolulu Avenue, where Orangedale dead-ends.

There had been discussions between Zurn and his staff about traffic issues along Honolulu Avenue. He had received some emails and phones calls from concerned residents about the excess speed and drivers not stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks. The decision was made to install the signs before the Trader Joe’s development was completed.

“We took a look at the area and there was really only one four-way stop at Rosemont Avenue and nothing between Ocean View Boulevard and Rosemont,” he said.

“We have 17 crosswalks and a major senior population,” said Dale Dawson, executive director of Montrose Shopping Park Association.

Though Dawson had not received any complaints about the speeding he was not surprised people were worried.

“You take your life into your own hands when you walk across the crosswalks here,” he said.

The signs are now evenly placed from Rosemont Avenue to Ocean View Boulevard, Zurn said. The three-way stop signs at the corner of Orangedale and Honolulu avenues are a temporary design. As part of the Trader Joe’s plans the city will add a more decorative design, Zurn added.

The two additional stop signs on Honolulu Avenue at Wickham Way converts that intersection into a four-way stop.

Zurn feels the stop signs will slow drivers down and make it safer in the crosswalks.

“Steve Zurn and his guys know the area, they know what works,” Dawson said. “[The signs] sound like a good move to me.”

In addition to the stop signs the golden yellow pedestrian warning signs have been replaced with neon yellow.

  Honolulu Blvd, stop signs