STEUBENVILLE — Traffic signals at Third and Market and 11 other downtown intersections are going to be replaced with four-way stop signs, but it won’t happen anytime soon.

City Engineer Mike Dolak said Wednesday it will take at least a year to get an ordinance passed, the final design work completed and the contract awarded.

“The earliest you could possibly see (it) is spring 2026, a year from now,” he said.

The plan is based on the results of a safety study that looked at 13 intersections currently equipped with traffic signals and six that have stop signs. Significantly, Dolak noted that of 101 crashes that have happened in the study area since 2019, 84 took place at intersections equipped with traffic lights. Just 17 happened at all-way stops.

Dolak said the existing lights are old and rapidly nearing the end of their working life but of the 13 signals in the study area, only one-the light at 7th and Washington-meets the federal government’s current replacement standards, which include vehicular traffic volumes, pedestrian counts and crash counts.

Lights deemed “not warranted” aren’t going to get federal funding for replacements–which Dolak estimated could run anywhere from $270,000-$330,000, a number based in large part on the $2.8 million the government spent to replace seven traffic signals on state Route 7 last year.

“You do the math,” he told council.

Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission paid for the study, about $132,000. Funding is available through BHJ to assist with converting lighted intersections to all-way stops, including crosswalk enhancements and road striping. Dolak figured the city’s share would be $30,000-$40,000.

“The main purpose of this project is to improve safety for the downtown Central Business District for both vehicular and pedestrian movements,” he said. “Our goal is to remove the unwarranted signals and improve movement throughout the downtown area while taking into account safety for all.”

The study also included a potential bike path through the downtown, but that won’t be unveiled until a June 3 service committee meeting.

The study told council “what most were already thinking,” Councilwoman Heather Hoover pointed out.

“I think moving forward with (the) suggestions can ultimately improve our downtown business district and provide a more friendly environment to pedestrians while allowing traffic to move more fluidly through our city,” she said.

Councilman at large Joel Walker agreed, saying in the long run, “traffic will run (more) smoothly.”

“There will be a learning adjustment but there were lights already removed from the city,” he pointed out, adding, “The (same) people that run the red lights will be the same (ones) that run the stop signs, but with the stop signs you don’t wait two to three minutes for (a) light to change.

Councilman Dave Albaugh said he “really doesn’t have any concerns about removing the stop lights.”

“It will just be a matter of getting used to the four-way stop signs,” Albaugh said, adding that, “financially, it would probably be the best option being that our stop lights are outdated and at the end of their life span. This all happens with very little cost to the city.”

Hoover said with any new project there are always underlying concerns, “and one I may have is the changes that motorists will need to adhere to, but in the end I believe that these changes will prove to be beneficial to motorists, pedestrians and our downtown business district.”