Pam Newman of Freeland writes: On Whidbey Island, the southern end of Highway 525 ends with two lanes coming down the hill to the Clinton ferry terminal. The problem is there are three traffic lights for these two lanes.
It is very confusing, and vehicles are frequently following the wrong light for their lane. Why don’t they just have two lights?
Bronlea Mishler, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: It does seem strange to have three traffic lights for only two lanes, but there’s method to the madness. The two signals on the right are for one lane. It’s the ferry holding lane, the lane where most of the traffic on Highway 525 is going.
Why two? It’s a redundant light system in case one light burns out. That signal is too important to fail.
The third signal is on the left and directs traffic in the left lane. This lane is for local traffic, to keep it separate from ferry traffic. In this lane, there are drivers who want to turn left and drivers who want to turn right. It’s those who want to turn right from the left lane, in front of cars waiting for the ferry, who need that signal.
It makes drivers uncomfortable to turn right from a left lane in front of cars who want to go straight. That’s why they need their own signal that says “turn right now because those cars on your right are all stopped and won’t go through the intersection.”
Where’d the arrow go?
R. Olivier of Lake Stevens writes: We drive north on Highway 9 and turn east on Highway 92. There used to be a right-turn arrow that came on when people from westbound Highway 92 got a green light onto Highway 9. It is gone and I’m wondering why it was removed. It was a great right-turn light.
Mishler responds: We had to remove the right-turn signal when we started construction last year on a project to widen Highway 9 between Highway 92 and Lundeen Parkway. To widen the west side of the roadway, we shifted traffic to the east. Those shifted lanes didn’t line up with the existing right-turn signal, so we removed it to avoid driver confusion. The good news is that the signal removal is only temporary. Once we complete widening work next winter, drivers will have a dedicated right-turn lane and right-turn signal.
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