Admiral/California traffic-signal timing: City thinks it’s fixed


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In an update to local drivers who e-mailed SDOT with complaints about signal-timing changes leading to backups at Admiral/California (previous reports Oct. 7, Oct. 9, Nov. 14 and Nov. 17), the city says it believes the problem is fixed now, and reveals it’s looking at “removing” parking on the southwest side of the intersection. We’ll follow up with the city to find out exactly which/how many spaces they’re talking about, but for now, Laura shares this e-mail she received, signed by SDOT’s Chris Faulkner:

Thank you for your recent communication to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) regarding the timing of the traffic signal light at California Avenue SW and SW Admiral Way. We received quite a few letters and emails from concerned residents, and I want to share with all of you what has been taken place at this intersection.

Initially, new timing was put into place at this intersection and several others on the corridor. This new timing took into account current traffic volumes and provided a balance that better served all users of the intersection.

We began receiving complaints almost immediately, mainly from motorists travelling eastbound on Admiral Way. I made several site visits to the location to see if I could determine where an adjustment needed to be made, but every time I was at the location, traffic was progressing well, as I had planned. After complaints continued to come in, I went to the site again, and this time I found what others had been experiencing – the signal was skipping phases and causing traffic backups.

When the new timing plan was implemented, a new controller was also installed at this intersection. Unfortunately, there was a compatibility issue between the new controller and the timing program, which caused problems to occur sporadically. When a problem is intermittent, it is almost impossible to diagnose what is not working unless you happen to be there at the time it happens. Once I was able to observe what was occurring, I was able to work towards correcting the problem.

The correction was made on November 17; I have been in the field many times since, at all times of day, to observe traffic conditions. I am now confident that everything is working as planned. The number of complaints received has slowed to a trickle, and the focus of these complaints is the weekend timing plan.

The timing favors east- and westbound movements because of the higher traffic volumes in these directions. On weekend timing, east- and westbound is still favored, but the green time is more closely split with the north- and southbound movement. This is due to increased north- and southbound volumes on weekends. If the north- and southbound traffic “gaps out,” the unused green time is given to the east- and westbound movement. With this timing, I believe we are providing a balance that best suits the needs of all users of the intersection.

Additionally, our Arterial Operations section is working with nearby business owners to explore removing parking eastbound on Admiral, approaching California. We believe this would help improve traffic flow.

I appreciate the patience from the community while we worked to resolve this problem. If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at traffic.signals@seattle.gov. Thank you for your input.

Before the WSB reports we linked above, discussion of the problem first surfaced in this WSB Forums thread.

21 Replies to "Admiral/California traffic-signal timing: City thinks it's fixed"

  • intheneighborhood December 6, 2009 (11:12 am)

    Fixed? Really? At 1 p.m. Saturday, eastbound, it took me four light cycles to get through the intersection.

  • Rick December 6, 2009 (11:29 am)

    There they go thinkin’ again!

  • Dan'a December 6, 2009 (11:37 am)

    I cannot help but think the increased population in West Seattle is really exacerbating the problem.

  • plebe December 6, 2009 (11:41 am)

    Ridiculous. I live off Admiral around 49th and the ONLY backups I’ve experienced are eastbound on Admiral when the parking spots in front of the dry cleaners are occupied. It is absurd they’ll shaft a ton of drivers instead of removing parking. Couldn’t the lot across the street be used.

    I’m also not buying the “compatibility issue”. Sounds the like the new timing was screwed up, initial complaints ignored, and finally addressed.

  • PSPS December 6, 2009 (11:44 am)

    The North-South situation is very bad too. Northbound traffic mostly turns right onto eastbound Admiral. But when cars are parked along California on the southeast corner of the intersection, one car not turning right will cause traffic to back up beyond Safeway. Only one or two cars can get through because of pedestrians in the crosswalk and the short-cycling of the signal. This is similar to the situation they are alluding to in their reference to “parking eastbound on Admiral, approaching California.”
    ~
    The only fix for this that I can see is eliminating curb parking approaching the intersection in all directions. (Southbound California is OK only because the Chevron station’s driveways eliminate the curb parking problem there.)

  • Admiral Janeway December 6, 2009 (11:47 am)

    If parking is removed eastbound approaching the intersection, it should be replace with a right turn only lane.
    I wonder how this move will impact business at the drycleaner and candy store?

  • JJ December 6, 2009 (11:54 am)

    As mentioned, the real fix is getting rid of the curb parking in front of the cleaners, from the corner down to about Bank of America. When cars are in these spots, only one lane can go across California eastbound. And if someone is turning right while pedestrians are crossing, they have to wait. That really creates a big back up.

  • Rhonda Porter December 6, 2009 (12:11 pm)

    Gee–I’ve been thinking it’s due to all the high-density building and increased population in WS…hope this light can fix things. We’ve been trying to avoid that intersection.

  • Huindekmi December 6, 2009 (12:18 pm)

    At 10AM Saturday, eastbound traffic was backed up 2 full blocks and took multiple light cycles to get through, with each cycle running very short and allowing about 5 cars through. Fixed?? Not.

  • on board December 6, 2009 (2:12 pm)

    Eliminate the parking

  • Barb December 6, 2009 (2:21 pm)

    The pedestrian “problem” is the same at nearly every intersection in Seattle. Only the Junction solves the issue with its oddball crossing pattern. I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s obvious that peds. are not compatible with turning vehicles. Seems that the little white man should not be illuminated until at least a few cars have had time to turn right, ESP. if there is no dedicated turning lane.

  • zgh2676 December 6, 2009 (3:20 pm)

    Definitely not fixed. Backed up to 47th (Alki Mail & Dispatch) yesterday afternoon around 1pm. The parking’s got to go!

  • zgh2676 December 6, 2009 (3:24 pm)

    Oh yeah, just in case you’re interested here’s the man responsible:
    Chris Faulkner traffic.signals@seattle.gov

    Drop him a line. I’m sure he’ll have a nice canned email response for you.

  • huindekmi December 6, 2009 (4:36 pm)

    While removing the parking for two blocks along Admiral may help, it’s not the root cause of the problem. And it’s not increased density either. These kinds of backups rarely occurred before SDOT messed with the timing at that intersection.

    The only times traffic used to back up this badly was on those beautiful spring and summer days when the volume of traffic coming up from the beach was huge. With big backups building up under average (or lower) traffic volumes, I can’t wait to see how the new light timing will handle the beach traffic.

    SDOT tried fixing something that wasn’t broken in the first place, made the situation worse, and just can’t admit that they screwed up. Put the light timing back the way it was.

  • plebe December 6, 2009 (4:47 pm)

    What specifically worries me and I really don’t buy about the ‘incompatibility between controller and software’ is this. Isn’t the software and controllers standardized? Can’t they test out the new combination? If not, then, sweet weeping jesus, how can large city traffic flow with a piecemeal, finger to the air, try and see what happens, approach.

    Maybe they do have a testing routine they use before affecting thousands of drivers. More details would (maybe just a paragraph) would help.

  • jw December 6, 2009 (5:03 pm)

    I come south on California and make a left turn onto Admiral going east. We often had to wait through several lights to make our turn because only a couple of cars were able to get through. People routinely made that left turn on a red, something I think the City frowns upon. And quite often, after one car went through the red light, you’d see another one following right behind it. As a law abiding sort of person, I don’t like doing that. So while some of you think that the city should have left well enough alone, some of us don’t quite see it that way.

  • Maria December 6, 2009 (8:39 pm)

    I’ve been through that intersection several times this weekend, and haven’t had a single problem with how it’s operating. I appreciate the effort SDOT makes with our traffic signal timing. If you’re not happy with how our traffic lights run, you should take a visit to some of our neighboring cities (Kent, Renton, Shoreline, Bothell, Issaquah, even White Center ) and then you will see how great we have really do have it.

  • Maria December 6, 2009 (8:39 pm)

    Double post, what.

  • zgh2676 December 7, 2009 (11:03 am)

    I’m glad I don’t live in Kent, Renton, Shoreline, Bothell, Issaquah, or even White Center. However, because I’m fortunate enough to live in Seattle, that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy something which is operating poorly. It seems like a simple request to address a problem the city caused. Congratulations on making it through that intersection at the right time.

  • publicadministrator December 7, 2009 (1:24 pm)

    I agree with all the previous comments about having to wait through multiple traffic signal cycles to drive through this intersection over the weekend.

    ..and as a pedestrian as well something’s not right. I waited to cross Admiral from the northwest corner (Chevron station) and the crossing signal has skipped over and not displayed “walk” through more than one cycle, even after using the button.

  • William December 7, 2009 (6:15 pm)

    Yes, Saturday was bad again. Saturday, I pulled out onto Admiral from my neighborhood from and traffic was backed up all the way to Waite St. That intersection is bad enough – the back ups make pulling out onto Admiral even worse. From the comments above, it looks like the complaints are still “trickling” in! I may be the only one, but I’d like to keep the parking on Admiral. I want to keep the nearby commercial spaces that depend on the parking healthy.

Sorry, comment time is over.