City Checking on Church Street Traffic Light Timing at Glenlake Park Entrance
Decatur Metro | May 8, 2013I had noticed a sizable backup on Church Street the other morning, but didn’t know the cause – because I had high-tailed it in another direction!
But yesterday Scott F wrote in…
What is going on with the traffic light at Church & Lucerne (at the entrance to Glenlake Park)? Traffic was backed up to North Decatur yesterday morning and this morning, and was backed up almost to Commerce yesterday afternoon. It looks like either the green for Church has been shortened or the green for Lucerne is being triggered for no reason.
I passed the note along to the City Manager Peggy Merriss and Asst. Manager David Junger. Ms. Merriss replied hat Mr. Junger would contact the city’s traffic consultant and look into the timing. (The city doesn’t currently have control of traffic lights in Decatur – DeKalb does. That could all soon change, but for now, we’re still at the mercy of the county to an extent.)
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I can confirm this problem. We live in a townhouse off Church St and exiting onto the street has been impossible due to backed up traffic all week. There is definitely something awry.
The backed up traffic has been a blessing for my wife and I. Because of the slow movement of vehicles, nice drivers will allow us to turn left onto Church. Silver lining?
I have to turn left out of my condos and don’t always have “nice” drivers who let me in and sit there for a long time. Very frustrating. Sure hope the City doesn’t move forward with a roundabout at that intersection or I’ll never get out.
“for now, we’re still at the mercy of the county…”
We could bribe them.
Can they look in to Sycamore and Commerce while lights are on their radar? When I approach this intersection I get out of my car and run over to push the pedestrian cross button. God only knows how long you’ll sit there otherwise.
I’m not sure even doing that does anything – I have run through that intersection (on my feet, not in my car ; -) every evening for years and I can attest that the green light is DEFINITELY weighted in favor for Commerce traffic. I always push the ped button, but I have never noticed any effect on changing the light.
There’s definitely a lag after you push it, and by lag, at least a minute to 2 minutes, enough time for another 5 or 6 cars to line up going in the direction away from the library. Perhaps all along I have been thinking it was the push that made it change, but in actuality it’s timed and the pushing made no difference?
Twice I have reported broken pedestrian crossing signals to the City. To the city’s credit, the city engineer has CC’d me on emails that were forwarded the info to the county. Eventually (1-2 months later), the county actually does fix them.
On a related note, many lights in downtown are traffic actuated. This is a huge problem for bicycles and even scooters (see below) — sometimes a light simply will not change. (And if the Sycamore/Decatur post above is correct, maybe sometimes those actuation sensors don’t work)
For such a bike-friendly city, these traffic actuated lights are a problem — they put the bicyclist in a position of having to run a red light, or do something else with an intent that may not be obvious to vehicles.
True story: A few weeks ago, I watched a scooter pull up to the red-light at W Ponce and Commerce, heading southbound. There was a MARTA bus behind the scooter and 2 cars. I watched the light go through 2 complete cycles, and the southbound traffic on Commerce never got a red-light. The scooter eventually ran the light. When the bus pulled up to the stop line, the southbound traffic got a green light on the next cycle. So it was evident that the scooter was not of sufficient metal mass to trigger the light! (the sensors in the road typically detect metal above)
There are many other lights like this (I’ve been stuck on my bike at E Trinity Pl and Church) that have been discussed on the BikeDecatur list lately.
I agree that traffic activitation lights are a big problem for all the reasons enumerated. The light at N. McDonough and Trinity did not change for me one evening a few weeks ago. I’d prefer timed signals even if no one is using them at 4:00 AM. It doesn’t hurt traffic going through town to stop and wait even if no cross traffic exists–it’s part of general intown speed control. And not all pedestrian signals work. We have a growing volume of children, teens, elderly, and visitor pedestrians using these intersections and it’s just a matter of time before folks coping with broken signals get injured. There needs to be active monitoring of these intersections not just passive waiting for complaints. Many of the folks who experience problems–e.g. children and visitors–are not likely to report problems.
I disagree that timed signals are universally better than demand-actuated traffic signals. Perhaps the ideal is some combination. Traffic signals are about regulating traffic, not speed, and if there is no traffic, the light shouldn’t change. I’m more patient than I used to be, but traffic signals that change on a timer at off-peak times – when there is absolutely no one waiting on a side street – can actually encourage speeding and running red lights.
I totally agree that it would be great if the people in charge monitored intersections, but there sure are a lot of them. I’m a casual cyclist who wondered if I’m triggering a traffic signal. According to wikihow.com (http://www.wikihow.com/Trigger-Green-Traffic-Lights), sensors don’t detect a vehicle’s weight, but “how much it disturbs an electromagnetic field.” There are some interesting tips that I haven’t tried yet.
If traffic activated lights worked, I’d be totally for them. But they often don’t work in the City of Decatur. I don’t know if it’s the technology or the maintenance that’s usually at fault. A broken traffic activated light can be dangerous. If you are at one that is broken and want to turn left, you are in quite a quandrary. Because our streets aren’t on simple grids with all two-way streets, you don’t even have the option sometimes of turning around in place and going around the block.
The pedestrian crossing button on the Lucerne St side of the Glenlake light is not working. The one on the park side seems to work.
I luv vehicle activated lights and considerate drivers.
Looks like it was resolved as of this morning. Right?
seems to be, DM