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MOUNT VERNON — City officials are urging motorists and pedestrians to slow down and heed caution when passing through one of Mount Vernon’s busiest intersections on Wednesday, as an alleged hit-and-skip incident Tuesday night has left the area without traffic signals.
The Mount Vernon Police Department began receiving calls at 5:12 p.m. Tuesday about an incident that allegedly occurred on Coshocton Avenue, at the four-way intersection containing access roads to Knox Village Square and Walmart, Lt. Andy Burns said.
“Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, a motorist went through that intersection, headed west-bound on Coshocton Avenue, and caught what’s known as the tethering wire in the intersection, which ripped every single light down,” Mayor Matt Starr said.
“The tethering wire is the lower wire that holds the tension on the stoplight, so that when the wind blows, the light doesn’t spin around.”
This resulted in all of the intersection’s traffic lights – the two sets stretching across Coshocton Avenue and the two sets governing access roads to Knox Village Square and Walmart, respectively – crashing to the pavement.
Many shattered, leaving debris sprinkled across the intersection during rush hour. The cross-walk signals at the intersection were also disabled as a result of the incident.
Burns said officers responded to the scene immediately, clearing debris and directing traffic. The city chose to install temporary stop signs at each access road, while leaving Coshocton Avenue – one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares – open.
“One of the decisions we had to make was with regard to Ohio state law, when it comes to an intersection with a non-working traffic light. Because normally that becomes a four-way stop,” Starr said.
“But the problem with that is, (Coshocton Avenue) is five lanes, so there’s no way you’re going to be able to put a stop sign in between those lanes and not cause any more problems.”
The city’s Street Department resumed work on the intersection Wednesday morning, assessing the situation and determining what would be needed to fully repair the four-way intersection.
“We’re piecing traffic lights together from what we can salvage from the accident and what we have in the shop, and we’re going down to get more supplies to be able to fix it,” Starr said.
Tom Hinkle, the city’s Director of Public Works, drove to Columbus early Wednesday to collect additional parts.
“We’re out there doing everything we can to get that intersection back functioning as quickly as possible,” Starr said.
The city has already ordered a new set of traffic lights, Starr said, and is working to install a temporary set by Wednesday evening.
“We’ll be working there this afternoon as much as we can,” Starr said. “We want to get things situated so that by late-afternoon/early-evening, it’ll be up and running again.”
In the meantime, city officials are urging the public to slow down and drive carefully through the intersection – for the safety of other drivers and pedestrians, and those working to make repairs.
“Just be aware of those crews out there working and the fact that operations have changed,” Burns advised the public.
“We tend to be creatures of habit, so just be a little more aware and know that this is not going to be what you’re used to until crews are done. Be mindful of the crews alongside the road and the equipment they may have in place, and just be safe.”
It’s unclear at this point what repairs will cost the city. Starr said the city got lucky, in some ways, given the circumstances.
“The good news is the main messenger wire, which is the big top wire that the top of the light is attached to, as far as we can tell, was not damaged,” he said, noting that no utility poles were damaged, either. “We’d be looking at a lot longer repair process and a lot more of an expense here (if that were the case).”
It’s also unclear why the incident occurred, and what became of the alleged driver. City officials said the driver fled the scene afterwards, and the case remains under investigation.
“There’s an (incident) report, but it’s not complete yet. They’re still investigating who’s at-fault,” MVPD Records Clerk Wade Grogg said. “It may be a couple days because the person didn’t hang around.”
Burns said there were no reported injuries as a result of the incident.
“We don’t look for it to take very long to wrap (the investigation) up. That’s pretty common for non-injury accidents, especially when you’re talking about a possible hit-skip situation,” Burns said.
“There are lots of factors at-play here and we don’t have a timeline, but we don’t foresee it taking very long to wrap this up and come to a conclusion.”
