Got Your Attention?

Its relatively certain that area firms stop signs will

By Tom Daykin Journel/Sentinel - May 18, 2008

It's an idea so simple you wonder why it took so long to happen: a stop sign outlined with solar-powered flashing red lights, to improve visibility at a relatively affordable cost.

Elm Grove-based Traffic and Parking Control Co. didn't invent this blinking-light stop sign. But its executives did strike a licensing agreement with the inventor, and they have marketed the sign to states and communities concerned about accident-prone intersections.

As a result, Traffic and Parking Control, also known as TAPCO, has seen accelerating sales and job growth in recent years. The company just bought a much larger building in Brown Deer, and it plans to move there from Elm Grove by November.

The sign is one of dozens of traffic-control products and services made or distributed by Tapco, a privately owned company. But President John Kugel says the flashing stop sign - marketed as the BlinkerSign® - is the Ryan Braun of Tapco's lineup.

"It's been extremely successful for us," Kugel said.

Tapco began selling the BlinkerSign® about six years ago. Its energy-efficient LED lights use solar energy, including a solar-powered battery for nights and heavily overcast days.

The price of a BlinkerSign starts at $1,600. While that's less expensive than a stop sign with a hard-wired flashing red traffic beacon, it's also much costlier than an ordinary stop sign without any lights. Tapco sells those signs starting at just under $20.

The BlinkerSign isn't meant to be used everywhere, Kugel said. Instead, state and local officials generally want them for intersections where accidents tend to happen.

BlinkerSign sales were slow at first. The process of having the signs approved by federal highway officials, and then getting approval in each state, has moved at a snail's pace.

But Tapco's marketing efforts got a big boost a few years ago, Kugel said, when a Texas Transportation Institute study concluded that the total rate of vehicles not fully stopping at two Texas intersections was reduced by 28.9% after installation of the BlinkerSign. The study recommended the signs be installed at intersections where a high percentage of vehicles fail to comply with stop signs.

Signs Throughout State

Wisconsin locations where the signs have been put include six intersections in Kenosha County, said Gary Sipsma, director of the county highway division. The first was installed a few years ago at the corner of Highway C and Highway H, a T-intersection in Pleasant Prairie, where several accidents had occurred because drivers hadn't noticed the stop signs.

The BlinkerSign eliminated that problem, Sipsma said, leading county officials to buy the signs for other troublesome intersections.

"We've been very happy with the results," he said.

The BlinkerSign® has advantages over stop signs that come with flashing red traffic beacons, Sipsma said. Those signs are more expensive to buy and operate because they are hard-wired, instead of using batteries and solar power, he said. Also, those signs are more difficult to install at rural intersections, which are usually not wired.

Also, the BlinkerSign, with its multiple lights, more effectively attracts attention than stop signs with one flashing beacon, according to Tapco.

With demand increasing for the BlinkerSign, Tapco needs more space.

The company, founded in 1956, has outgrown its 57,000-square-foot building at 800 Wall St., where it's been for eight years. Tapco recently bought a 128,000-square-foot building at 5100 W. Brown Deer Road, in a transaction brokered by Colliers Barry.

The building formerly housed NorthStar Print Group Inc. before the commercial printing facility closed in 2001. NorthStar in 2004 sold the building to Concours Motors Inc., which planned to open a Mercedes-Benz dealership there. But those plans were dropped, leading Concours to sell the building to Tapco, which will remodel the property before moving there.

Village Helps Firm

The Brown Deer Village Board is issuing industrial revenue bonds totaling $5.1 million in connection with Tapco's purchase and renovation of the building. Tapco is responsible for repaying the bonds, which carry a lower interest rate because they're issued by a municipality.

Kugel initially looked at the former NorthStar building a year ago but balked at moving from Waukesha County because of Milwaukee County's higher property taxes.

However, Kugel came back to the Brown Deer location because of the building's relatively low price and its ample amount of space for future growth. Tapco has about 100 employees, and it expects to add another 15 within a few years, Kugel said.