Yuma County adds stop signs near Gadsden Elementary to boost safety

Stop signs went up near Gadsden Elementary to slow traffic at a crossing used by hundreds of children each day, especially the 500 students who walk to school in the district. The change is aimed at one immediate risk: drivers moving too fast through a school-area intersection where parents have long said children needed more protection.

Yuma County approved the new control after a traffic study and renewed safety concerns around the school. The county’s Department of Public Works, which handles pavement marking, highway signing and traffic signal maintenance for public safety, has also been adding other safety tools across the county, including street lights, LED enhanced curve warnings, LED enhanced stop signs with red flashing beacons, flashing intersection warning signs and speed feedback signs.

The Board of Supervisors, which governs ordinances and development in the county’s unincorporated area, has now backed another visible layer of traffic control near the school. For drivers, that means a stronger expectation to stop fully and slow down at an intersection where crossing children are now harder to miss.

The safety push near Gadsden fits a larger pattern in the district. In November 2023, Gadsden Elementary School District No. 32 said a roadway extension would benefit 1,400 students. Lizette Esparza, the district superintendent, said, “The new roadway extension will benefit 1,400 students, out of those students 500 are walkers,” and described the project as a proactive step to improve school transportation infrastructure and create a safer route to school.

Concerns about school-area traffic have not been abstract. In 2020, a local parent stood at a crosswalk to help children cross and asked for help with the hazardous situation. More recently, a Yuma parent said she did not feel comfortable letting her son walk to school alone. Yuma police have also repeatedly reminded drivers to pay close attention in school zones.

The new stop signs do not solve every traffic problem around Gadsden Elementary, but they do address a specific pinch point where children on foot have been most exposed. For families near the school, the change is immediate: more visible traffic control, a slower approach for drivers, and a crossing that county officials say is meant to put student safety ahead of speed.