Baldwin ? Getting used to the city’s first traffic signal hasn’t been entirely easy for Baldwin drivers.

“You’d think it was different from a regular stoplight,” said Rikki Johnson, who watches the updated intersection of U.S. Highway 56 and Sixth Street from the nearby Santa Fe Market. “For the first few days, people would stop, no matter what” color the light.

Judging by traffic Monday afternoon — about a week after the signal became operational — that’s no longer a problem. But this town of 3,400 people in southern Douglas County is still abuzz about the new device.

“Everybody’s talking about it,” Johnson said. “As long as I’ve lived here, it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened.”

Baldwin residents have asked for a signal for years. Before the device was installed, Sixth Street traffic would be stopped for as long as 10 minutes at a time, officials said.

“It’s busiest, of course, at 8 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon, particularly with the school traffic,” City Administrator Jeff Dingman said. “It’s pretty much the only route the school buses take.”

The city first submitted a request to the Kansas Department of Transportation in 2001. KDOT did a traffic study during the summer — when Baker University and nearby Baldwin High School are out of session — and said a signal wasn’t needed. The agency reconsidered, Mayor Ken Hayes said, after a second study was done during the school year.

The signal cost $130,000, with KDOT paying 90 percent of the price tag. The city paid $13,000.

Now Baldwin residents are coming to terms with how the change.

Baldwin's first-ever traffic signal is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 56 and Sixth Street. Drivers and pedestrians crossed the intersection Monday.

“I’m very glad they put it in,” said Kelli Nicolay, a six-year resident of Baldwin who was fueling her sport utility vehicle Monday afternoon at the Santa Fe Market.

“The only thing is … you have to pay attention,” she said. “You can’t just keep going down 56.”

Dingman agreed.

“The only things I’ve heard are positives,” he said. “I’ve been here a year now, and it was one of those things that was constantly asked.”

But, Dingman added, “there’s been some folks standing in line at the voting place the other day who said it’s disheartening that Baldwin’s big enough for a traffic signal.”

Hayes, though, said the signal shouldn’t affect the city too much.

“I don’t think it changes the character,” he said. “Yes, we are larger than we were 10 years ago. But the small-town flavor is here. Neighbors are still friends with each other.

“It’s just that we got a little bit bigger and need adequate safety devices in place.”

Audio: Jeff Dingman talks about why the traffic signal was needed Audio: Jeff Dingman talks about Baldwin’s growth Audio: Ken Hayes talks about Baldwin’s growth