4-way stop added at crash-prone Oswego intersection

Now that Fifth Street and Bluegrass Parkway in Oswego is a four-way stop, village officials hope the improvements will help reduce the number of crashes there.

Starting at noon June 16, the intersection changed from a two-way stop to a four-way stop. At the April 22 Oswego Village Board meeting, trustees unanimously approved installing two additional stop signs at the intersection. The issue had been discussed at the April 8 Committee of the Whole meeting.

Prior to the intersection being made into a four-way stop, stop signs had only been installed for east- and westbound traffic on Bluegrass Parkway. In the fall of 2023, a flashing beacon and a pedestrian crosswalk was installed on the south leg of the intersection.

The intersection is located near Brokaw Learning Center and has some proximity to Plank Junior High School and Churchill Elementary School.

“Given the extreme, in my mind, very extreme number of accidents, 12 in the last couple of years, which is an average of about four per year, I think it’s a no-brainer,” Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman had said in talking about the need to make the intersection a four-way stop. “I know I’ve had a lot of residents reach out to me expressing the same. And it makes the most sense to me that we do this.”

Village Trustee Karen Novy also agreed that the intersection needs a four-way stop.

“I spend a lot of time talking to residents in Churchill Club subdivision, and I know it’s a concern for them,” she said. “I would like to see a four-way stop there.”

The posted speed limit on Fifth Street is 35 mph and is 25 mph on Bluegrass Parkway.

Oswego Police Chief Jason Bastin said speeding was not a major issue in the crashes that have occurred at the intersection.

“These crashes, most of them, have been a failure-to-yield issue,” he said.