DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100685

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: GRANDY                            LENGTH:   65 lines

GRANDY TO GET WARNING LIGHTS AT ITS STOPLIGHT

Townspeople will finally get the warning lights they have been demanding in hopes of slowing down traffic on busy U.S. Route 158.

But the North Carolina Department of Transportation says that might not solve the problem.

On Thursday, Don Conner, head engineer for the Department of Transportation district, said the state plans to put up flashing lights above and below Grandy's only stoplight by Oct. 31.

There are only two other locations in the 14-county district where flashing lights warn of an upcoming stoplight. But warning devices such as flashing lights and rumble strips are not always effective, Conner said.

``Sometimes we're looking for a device to do what people are supposed to do,'' Conner said.

Residents renewed their push for help after a woman was killed at the intersection Sept. 20. Leading the effort was an informal organization called the Lunch Bunch, to which the woman had belonged.

``If you're coming from the beach, you're on a curve,'' one of the group's leaders, Andrea Colyer, said. ``If you're coming from Norfolk, you're on a curve. You do not see this light in time to stop.''

Colyer had written nine letters, including one to Gov. Jim Hunt and another to the state's secretary of transportation, Garland Garrett.

``If we can get enough public outcry, DOT might be forced to do something,'' Colyer said before the state disclosed its decision Thursday.

The Currituck County Board of Commissioners heard complaints at their regular board meeting Monday night and held a special meeting at the Grandy Volunteer Fire Station on Wednesday. About 40 angry residents attended the meeting.

The board earlier had written several letters to the state Transportation Department, said chairman Paul O'Neal.

Bonnie Shaffer was killed Sept. 20 when a truck going 60 mph struck her car, according to witnesses. Another man has been in a coma since June 1996 after being hit at the same intersection, Colyer said. The speed limit through Grandy is 45 mph.

After Shaffer's death, some residents believed the traffic light malfunctioned or the caution light time was too short.

Transportation Department technicians have measured the yellow caution at 4.5 seconds. Caution lights range from three to five seconds, Conner said.

The Grandy light also remains red in all directions for another two seconds.

The reaction distance is nearly one-tenth of a mile, even at 50 mph, Conner said.

Colyer said her group may also press state officials to place more Highway Patrol officers along U.S. Route 158.

The 45-mile highway through Currituck County is the main route to the Outer Banks for thousands of tourists each year. About midway through the county, U.S. Route 158 joins with N.C. Route 168 and becomes five lanes.

For years, residents have loudly sought relief from the heavy traffic. Some say they wait for 15 to 30 minutes just to leave their driveways and get on the highway.

Currituck officials have a long-range plan to connect back roads through the long, narrow county so that residents can travel locally without using U.S. 158 or N.C. 168.

This is not the first time the Lunch Bunch has taken on a public cause.

Seeing a need for the Currituck County Sheriff's Department to have more drug dogs, the group raised enough money to buy three Belgian Malanoits at $9,700 each.

They meet weekly for lunch at Pickett's restaurant, where Shaffer worked.

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