Crowded onramp could use traffic light
Published 9:53 pm Sunday, July 15, 2007
Question: The onramp to southbound Highway 9 at Second Street in Snohomish is a joke. We let Highway 9 get all the way backed up so that every other car from Snohomish can enter Highway 9.
Why don’t they put a light on the onramp to restrict the traffic at least a little bit so that Highway 9 can move a little faster?
Justin Smith, Lake Stevens
Answer: Installing a ramp meter on this ramp is an interesting idea and we are considering it.
Ramp meters are stop-and-go traffic signals that create a four-second or longer delay between cars entering the highway. This reduces the risk of merging collisions and increases the average highway speed, which shortens travel times.
We are currently designing improvements for Highway 9 and several of its intersections between Bothell and Snohomish. As part of that work, we will study putting in ramp meters at this location. We need to make sure there are no unintended negative consequences, including backing up traffic on Second Street.
Mike Swires, state traffic engineer
Free right turn rules
Question: I thought a red arrow meant stop for that direction until the arrow turns green or disappears and the regular light turns green.
This does not seem to be the case at the westbound exit from Highway 526 onto northbound Evergreen Way in Everett.
I dutifully stop and wait only to have people behind me honking because I won’t take a free right turn while the cars in the next lane barely slow down before turning and heading north.
I use that exit a number of times each week and I’ve never noticed a problem with the free right turns. If all the drivers stopped and waited for the light to turn green, traffic would back up onto the freeway. Why were they installed?
Marilyn Lemar, Everett
Answer: It is legal to make a free right turn even if the traffic light is showing a red right turn arrow. The only time you cannot make a free right turn is when there is a sign that specifically says no turns on red.
These lights tell the driver that they are in the right-turn only lane during the duration of the traffic light.
Dongho Chang, state traffic engineer
Tracks too close to signal
Question: While traveling east on 116th Street NE or 88th Street NE at State Avenue, drivers are no longer allowed to make a right turn until the light turns green. Why can’t we make a right turn on red?
Pat Clark, Granite Falls
Answer: These intersections are among the most complex in Marysville. Both signals have a railroad crossing very close to the signal.
There is not enough room between the tracks and the signal for a large vehicle to pull to the corner and try to turn on red without also sitting on the railroad tracks. Federal law requires “No Turn On Red” signs to keep the tracks clear.
John Tatum, Marysville traffic engineer
