Nearly $20,000 has been spent since late October to have Community Watch provide traffic control on Colony Boulevard.
Community Watch began directing traffic from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at the point where the golf cart path crosses Colony Boulevard near Colony Cottage Recreation Center.
The daily cost of having two Community Watch officers direct traffic at that site is roughly $200 per day or $1,400 per week.
The Villages has determined that the traffic in the area is heavy enough to be considered dangerous enough to call for manned traffic direction.
The weather has been so cold lately that at times both Community Watch officers have been monitoring traffic on Colony Boulevard from their truck.
“If the traffic is minimal, in the cold of the morning, it allows them to monitor as they sit in truck,” said District Manager Janet Tutt.
She said as traffic picks up the Community Watch personnel get out and return to directing traffic at the intersection.
As cold as it has been, warm weather is only a few months away.
Tutt has said in previous meetings that Community Watch personnel cannot be out directing traffic in the hot weather, which could return as early as April. She said it is an employee safety issue.
After examining possible solutions over the past few months including a stop sign, traffic signal, closing off Colony Boulevard, a roundabout, a bridge and a tunnel, Project Wide Advisory Committee members have settled on a traffic signal.
The cost of the signal is estimated to be $250,000.
District officials in conjunction with Kimley-Horn Associates engineering firm are putting the finishing touches on a request for bids for the light.
Tutt said the bid should be awarded in March.