Street Smarts: We find answers to your questions

Published 11:24 pm Sunday, February 24, 2008

Question: The left-turn signal for northbound Highway 9 at the intersection of Cathcart Way needs to be changed or adjusted to permit left turns.

It takes a long time for the light to cycle through and there are a lot of people wanting to turn.

Even with little or no southbound traffic drivers are forced to wait. This causes a backup on Highway 9 well past 152nd Street SE almost every evening, and as far south as 164th Street SE.

Even in the morning I have to wait an entire light cycle to turn left — even when there is no traffic coming up the hill. Many Saturday mornings I will sit and wait with absolutely no traffic in either direction.

Other traffic lights offer a flashing yellow or have a sensor that permits turns when cars start lining up. A “Left turn yield on green” sign would also help.

This is becoming a very serious safety hazard as folks turning left often protrude into the southbound lanes or are blocking the northbound lanes. There has been at least one accident that I’ve seen because of this.

John Meister, Snohomish

Answer: We reviewed this intersection and adjusted the signal to allow the left-turn arrow to come up more quickly and to stay green longer. We hope this will help reduce backups and keep traffic moving here.

To keep drivers safe, we will continue to restrict drivers to making left turns only when the left-turn arrow is green. The collision history at this intersection shows that left-turning drivers have difficulty finding adequate gaps in oncoming traffic to safely make their turns. While we know it can be frustrating to wait for the green arrow, our first priority is keeping drivers safe.

Mike Swires, DOT traffic engineer

Bike won’t trip signal

Question: I ride an 800-pound touring motorcycle. Despite this, I have discovered that the eastbound traffic light “tripper” on 100th Street SE, Olivia Park Road and 112th Street SE at their intersections with Evergreen Way do not recognize motorcycles. Since I get off work around midnight, I sometimes am forced to wait up to five or six minutes until a “real vehicle” pulls up behind me to “tell” the light that traffic is waiting to cross.

Is it possible or legal to wait, say one or two minutes, and then treat the light as a four-way stop and proceed if traffic is clear? Or could the city adjust the sensitivity of these sensors?

Bill Downing, Everett

Answer: We will have our crews adjust the sensitivity of the eastbound sensors. We also will check the sensors using a medium-sized motorcycle that one of our engineers rides.

Many of our traffic sensors are visible on the roadway surface as rectangular box or circles near the stop line. The most sensitive portion of the sensor is about a foot on either side of the sensor wire. We recommend stopping your motorcycle on that sensor. When it’s not visible, the best place to stop is prior to the crosswalk about two feet away from the lane line.

Going through the intersection against a red light is not recommended and could result in a ticket. You can make a right-hand turn at the light, make a U-turn at a safe spot, and make another right hand turn to avoid running the red light.

Dongho Chang, city traffic engineer

Pose your query

Have a question about traffic or street rules around Snohomish and Island counties? E-mail stsmarts@heraldnet.com. A Street Smarts blog is at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/streetsmarts.