NATCHEZ — The traffic light at Martin Luther King and State streets will soon be replaced by a three-way stop to help prevent future traffic accidents, officials said.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen unanimously agreed to pursue the change during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting following a presentation by Public Works Director Justin Dollar.

More than 30 traffic accidents have occurred at the intersection over the past seven years, Dollar said during Tuesday’s meeting.

“There have been a number of crashes at this particular intersection over the last seven years, and we’ve been looking at ways to deal with this issue over the last three years,” Dollar said. “Initially, one of the things people were saying is that there was not enough time between the red and green signals, so we expanded that time span. … Of course, that still did not have the result we were looking for.”

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said he recently called a joint meeting with Mississippi Department of Transportation representatives, Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong and other local officials to address ways to correct the issue.

“Over the past three years, since I’ve been mayor, we’ve had a total of 16 accidents at that intersection — in the past three years,” Grennell said. “Prior to that, we’ve had many more accidents that occurred and even had a firefighter, Darnell Woods, that was killed as a result of an accident at that intersection. … MDOT doesn’t have any role in that intersection, but I called them in as a resource to get their expertise.”

Dollar said state officials recommended a couple solutions, one of them being a warning beacon with flashing lights that would trigger when the traffic light turns yellow — which Dollar said would have cost approximately $15,000.

The less expensive alternative was to add stop signs and convert the intersection into a three-way stop, which would force traffic to stop on all sides.

“As we were talking about all of these solutions, this was the particular recommendation that the district engineer for MDOT thought would solve the problem we are currently having,” Dollar said.

In other matters during Tuesday’s meeting of the Natchez Board of Aldermen, the board:

4 Unanimously approved an inter fund loan of $38,000 for the Proud to Take a Stand Monument. Grennell said the state approved a bill that includes $38,000 for the monument that would be received in November to reimburse the loan.

4Unanimously approved change orders for Emergency Watershed Projects with a local match of approximately $14,000.

4Deferred an action to apply for a Mississippi Department of Archives and History Community Heritage Grant for replacing the roof at City Hall until the next board meeting on Aug. 27.

4Unanimously approved an invoice for the City-Wide Water Improvement Project in the amount of $4,410 that is partly funded by a Community Development Block Grant.

4Approved a motion by Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis to seek financing for approximately $750,000 needed for Emergency Watershed Projects in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Alderman Dan Dillard and Sarah Carter-Smith voted against the motion, stating that the board should wait until after the budget process for the next fiscal year is completed.