In a high-tech world boasting such wonders as self-driving vehicles and robot vacuum cleaners, one might consider the synchronization of traffic lights to be an easy task.
But that’s not the case in downtown Mount Airy, where recent efforts to solve a pesky stoplight problem have been unsuccessful and led to a return to an original setup prompting complaints.
The issue surrounds stoplights at North Main Street’s intersection with Moore Avenue and the intersection of North Main and Franklin Street nearby. City officials have been dealing with it since the fall.
Police Chief Dale Watson explained during a Nov. 5 meeting of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners that traffic lights downtown are old, and the timing sequence for the signals is out of date. Implementing a uniform sequence was deemed cost-prohibitive for the city government, with the streets involved being part of the municipal road system and not the state’s.
Watson also mentioned that the stoplight at Moore Avenue and North Main was “a constant red” because of damage in July when a utility line became snagged on a tractor-tractor and led to poles along Moore breaking and falling.
And when motorists turned left onto North Main from Moore, they immediately were encountering another long red light at the intersection of North Main and Franklin Street.
The matter was not an agenda item, but aired by Commissioner Marie Wood at the November meeting during a general comment period for city board members.
Gone in a flash
Wood was relaying a concern from Sandy Gwyn of the Pages bookstore nearby about the North Main-Franklin traffic light. Gwyn believed that drivers were running the light due to its proximity to the one at Moore Avenue and was worried about public safety, according to Wood.
Watson said early on that the possible solutions included implementing a stop sign temporarily or a flashing red light to see how those worked. He cited problems with pedestrian crosswalks at the area in question and expressed concern that the wrong change might encourage more speeding.
The measure decided on involved a flashing yellow light being implemented on Main Street and a flashing red for the Franklin Street side, which was soon left by the wayside.
“It was a couple of weeks, at least” before those changes were undone, Watson reported in mid-December.
He said the temporary configuration of blinking lights at Main-Franklin did not facilitate the safe movement of pedestrians from one side of the street to the other and drivers weren’t acknowledging the crosswalks at that location.
Watson’s safety concerns regarding the re-design, and the shift back to the original arrangement, were punctuated by some pedestrian near-misses.
Lingering concerns
“People have expressed concerns both ways,” Watson said of public reaction to the two setups in place in recent months, and the issue continues to be a focus among city council members.
It was raised again by Commissioner Steve Yokeley during a meeting in late January, when he reiterated the ongoing problem with the traffic lights being out of whack.
“Can the stoplights be synchronized any better than they are now?” Yokeley asked Chief Watson at that session.
“If it could have been, it would have been,” Watson replied. Such modern traffic light technology was not available when the signals were first installed downtown, and he reminded board members of the huge cost that would be involved in changing this now.
So the problem remains, which Yokeley said is troublesome for motorists. “I’m sure the tourists really have a problem with it,” he said.
Commissioner/Mayor Pro Tem Ron Niland suggested that the issue be tackled by a new group formed as part of a Vision Committee plan he recently announced to better address specific needs in the city such as economic development.
One of the four groups emerging is focusing on downtown/small business development.
In August 2017, Mount Airy Downtown Inc., an organization that spearheads improvements in the central business district, asked the city commissioners to consider removing the traffic signals where Franklin Street, Moore Avenue and Oak Street converge with North Main Street.
That request included replacing the lights with stop signs in order to make the downtown area more pedestrian-friendly.
However, the idea never gained traction among city leaders.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com