The first time residents in an Amherst neighborhood tried to correct a problem involving a stop sign at the junction of three branches of “curvy” roads at Maplemere and Frankhauser, it was 1980. Although three branches of the streets converge there in a kind of “Y” pattern, the intersection has only one stop sign.

Residents are aware of the problem, but they worry that strangers driving in the neighborhood might not be.

“It’s not safe at all,” Michael Paskowitz said in an e-mail to The Buffalo News. “Most of us living here know, but newcomers do not—and it is dangerous to all.”

After the initial complaint, the town’s Traffic Safety Board revisited the issue again in 1998 and 2001, and each time made some improvements: painting “stop” on the pavement, putting in striping to let people know where to stop, and putting in curve advisory signs.

Fast-forward to 2009, and residents are still worried and wonder if another stop sign could be a solution.

We contacted the town’s traffic safety coordinator, Chris Schregel, who outlined the intersection’s history, and said he would bring the issue up before the board.

“It is not uncommon to (re)visit the same request,” Schregel said. “I’ll be happy to put it on the next agenda for the board to consider.”

That meeting is set for Aug. 5.

Update: Residents on Tonawanda Creek Road in Clarence recently celebrated the reopening of a stretch of the road that has been closed since it collapsed in 2004 and which was the subject of previous Fix It columns. About 100 residents were on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony June 19.

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