Drivers adjust to new traffic patterns

City workers have removed a sign placed on a utility pole in an apparent protest of the Ketner Boulevard traffic signal trade.

A hand-painted sign reading "Help. I'm stuck in Westbrook (sic) and can't get out! 1-877-DOT-4YOU" was taken down from a utility pole near the Childcare Network at 270 U.S. 70 West on Thursday, Havelock's city planner confirmed.

"There was a sign on there, and we did remove it," said Scott Chase, director of planning and inspections. "It didn't have a sign permit."

The sign is evidence of frustration some residents have expressed since the traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 70 and Ketner Boulevard was removed in exchange for a new signal providing access to Havelock's Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Robin Bloss, the city's senior zoning enforcement officer, said attaching signs to utility poles is against Havelock regulations. Political, protest or other signs can be placed in residents' yards or on their private property.

The sign is being held by Havelock Public Services and can be discarded if it goes unclaimed after five days.

The telephone number printed on the sign is the N.C. Department of Transportation's road information hotline number.

City officials said they are not sure who put the sign up.

Traffic patterns on U.S. 70 and the highway service road between the Westbrooke subdivision and Stonebridge Trail have shifted since the Ketner Boulevard traffic signal was removed Monday. The stoplight allowed vehicles on the highway service road and on Ketner Boulevard to turn left on U.S. 70.

"I notice quite well that the service road is being used more, and that service road is in bad condition," said Rene Funes, who lives on Pinecone Lane in the Ketner Heights neighborhood.

His wife, Louella Funes, said she hasn't noticed any dramatic differences in traffic.

"It's not that difficult to get on 70 because we go on the service road," she said, adding, "But they shouldn't have taken the Ketner light."

The Ketner intersection remains open for right turns onto the highway and from the highway onto the service road.

Havelock commissioners agreed to the Ketner traffic signal's removal by unanimous approval of a construction agreement with Wal-Mart and the N.C. Department of Transportation in June 2006. The board had, however, worked to save the signal and proposed various alternatives before its removal.

The NCDOT did not perform an engineering study - which is recommended by federal transportation guidelines - to support installation of the Wal-Mart signal.

Engineers for the state DOT said the new light was unnecessary given the store's proximity to an existing signal at U.S. 70 and Catawba Road, but they agreed to install the signal and remove the Ketner light, satisfying a DOT policy that prevents a net gain in traffic signals along the U.S. 70 corridor.