The city of Tracy has considered almost every option to slow down traffic on the wide, four-lane Lincoln Boulevard except Iraqi-style security checkpoints.

The latest idea, installation of a three-way stop at Beverly Place, could be a permanent solution if it’s combined with a heavy dose of traffic enforcement. It tempers two problems: speeding and accidents at the two intersections. The three-way stop has enough merit to work. That was recognized Tuesday night when the Tracy City Council gave its OK.

To us, the city’s original solution to narrow the four lanes on Lincoln by restriping would increase the street’s danger and wouldn’t slow down the law-breaking drivers. The next idea not for primetime was to have single lanes in both directions with a middle turning lane. But that would have increased traffic congestion, especially before and after school, irritating Lincoln Boulevard residents and motorists for a different reason.

People who live along the posted 30-mph Lincoln Boulevard were the first to raise stop signs as one option to slow speeders. But the roadway planners’ bible, the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2003, with a California supplement, suggest stop signs not be used to control traffic speed. City engineers didn’t toss out the manual, but have gotten around it because of a sight-distance problem on the curvy Lincoln Boulevard. These curves are what rile up many of the residents, who complain the after-dark excessive speeders aren’t handling the curves and will crash their vehicles into parked cars or jump the curbs and strike anything in their way.

The residents disagree whether the stop signs will be an improvement because some speeders will blow through the stop signs, putting pedestrians and other drivers in danger. We also expect residents along Lincoln Boulevard will complain about the sounds of screeching brakes and squealing tires and the smell of foul air that will drift from the Beverly Place intersection 24/7.

We maintain that the tried-and-true solution is a continuance of increased traffic enforcement by Tracy police officers. If the speeders know law enforcement officers are clocking them and pulling them over day and night, they will avoid the area.