View Larger Map
One month after SDOT reported tweaking the Admiral/California signal timing, some drivers say it’s still not right. Acemotel brought this up in the WSB Forums today – not long after we got the following e-mail from Ted:
Whatever timing changes the city made a few months ago to the light at Admiral Ave SW and SW California, it is much worse than it used to be. Today I was again frustrated with long backups going east on SW Admiral toward California Ave. The backups on Admiral go beyond the yellow flashing light at Waite Street, which is already an extremely dangerous intersection. The backups make it hard to pull out on to Admiral from Waite St. and then there is a five, six, seven cycle wait to get through the first light at California. This causes people to make all kinds of dangerous moves. They bypass the queue on Admiral by driving for blocks up the left turn lane, etc. I find the problem to be bad in the afternoons on weekdays, but even much worse on weekends. Today I drove through the back up at 10:30 AM Saturday morning.
I imagine someone at the city thinks they improved things at the intersection. I think they need to get away from their desk and their computer and get out on the road and see what they have done. /with the changes, it is SLIGHTLY better going west on Admiral in the afternoons on weekdays and SLIGHTLY better going north on California and turning left onto Admiral. I make both moves regularly and used to have a two cycle wait during busy times. Now I SOMETIMES get a one cycle wait. Usually, it is still two cycles. But these minor improvements are not worth the big delays and safety problems that have been created. We do not need another serious accident at Admiral and Waite St. because of this!
Please go back to the way things were . . . .
The city suggests two ways to report traffic-signal problems – the overall hotline 206-684-ROAD and/or traffic.signals@seattle.gov; more background about the signal system on this page.
| 18 COMMENTS