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September 13, 2009 at 4:17 pm #592293
JennieMemberHas anyone noticed the new backup on Admiral (coming from Alki) at the Admiral & CA light. I had to wait through 3 lights at 10 am yesterday. Does anyone know if the light was recently retimed (poorly)?
September 13, 2009 at 4:29 pm #677125
GenHillOneParticipantoh god, yes! yesterday around 1:30pm – I don’t take that route regularly, so I wasn’t sure if something had happened. I got frustrated and finally turned at 7-11 and went all the way over to Barnecuts just to move rather than sit.
September 13, 2009 at 4:47 pm #677126
JayDeeParticipantI noticed this yesterday, and it seemed like the backup was there all day — back to 47th. Sometimes I think it is structural where people entering from alleys (the one behind BOFA in particular) or tentative right turners (c’mon, pull the car into the RH lane…) cause the problem. If I go by today I might check the timing.
September 13, 2009 at 6:06 pm #677127
JanSParticipantI noticed this on Friday at about 2:30pm, was headed west on Admiral, needed to make a left turn at 45th SW…traffic was backed up way past 45th…someone was gracious enough to stop and let me turn. I thought it weird, as there was nothing going on in the area..
September 13, 2009 at 6:21 pm #677128
miwsParticipantHas anyone noticed if any of the signals are going green on a regular basis, even without any traffic for that particular direction? i.e. a green left turn arrow, even without any cars in that signals left turn lane? I’m wondering if any, or all of them have defaulted to timer, rather than car presence. Either due to a malfunction with one of the detector loops, or perhaps SDOT has switched it for some reason.
California & Fauntleroy hasn’t yet been restored to car presence, from being on timer due to the Fauntleroy project. Yesterday, around 11:00-ish a.m., eastbound Fauntleroy was backed up around the curve down to south of Holly St.
Looking forward to it being restored. It gets frustrating standing on the corner waiting to cross, and the green arrow is on for a full, long, cycle with no cars needing it. Oh, and the other cycles running long too! :-/
Mike
September 13, 2009 at 7:14 pm #677129
JayDeeParticipantBTW, this AM Westbound Admiral seemed fine at 10:30–breezed right through.
September 13, 2009 at 7:34 pm #677130
dhgParticipantSaturday night, 7pm-ish, west bound on Admiral, finally gave up and took a side around to get to Metro Market. When I got to the other side of California, I couldn’t see what was causing such a long backup.
September 13, 2009 at 8:29 pm #677131
GinaParticipantPossible causes or aggravating factors.
Signal revision at California and Admiral?
Back up from red light signals on Admiral on 42nd and on Walnut?
Back up with people wanting to turn right, but cars parked with people going to Admiral businesses in the right lane/parking lane. Right lane is no parking only until 9AM.
September 13, 2009 at 9:13 pm #677132
JanSParticipantpeople playing hooky from work and hitting Alki beach during our fine weather? :)
September 14, 2009 at 12:05 am #677133
SmittyParticipantWhat they need to do is stop letting people park in the right lane and it would free up a ton of lane space for people turning (South) on California and Admiral.
The fact that we let four or five cars hold up hundreds of cars throughout the day has always baffled me. It happens heading North on California at Admiral as well – half the cars lined up are just trying to take a right hand turn!
Let’s paint more sharrows, yeah, that’s the ticket!
September 14, 2009 at 3:07 am #677134
DMcGMemberIt seems like there was a change to the functioning of the traffic lights. When coming home from work I often turn from westbound Admiral to southbound California. The signal used to provide the green for the left turn before the green for going straight on Admiral. On Thursday afternoon I noticed that the left turn lane had to wait until after the traffic going straight. It was also like this on Friday afternoon. The problem with this is that traffic backs up in the left turn lane and often blocks the left hand lane of westbound traffic on Admiral.
It also seems like on Thursday I had to sit through a whole cycle of lights at this intersection before turning left but maybe I’m wrong about that.
Does anyone know who to check with to see if this signal revision did occur? Just the standard SDOT contact information?
September 14, 2009 at 6:07 am #677135
Street JesusMemberNow the green is for all lanes facing one direction at a time. I’ll bet the system goes to a default setting when it malfunctions.
September 16, 2009 at 3:02 am #677136
JayDeeParticipantAs a follow-up today I noticed that both the e/w and n/s directions at California and Admiral have been changed to South first/North second where the through traffic and left turn lanes go first. I think the others were west first/east second. I was going southbound so paid more attention to those cardinally opposed directions.
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In a related matter, there is a new radar activated uphill speed sign at 51st on Admiral uphill. I must admit I often do just over the 30 mph limit here — we’ll see if social pressure works.
September 16, 2009 at 5:11 am #677137
miwsParticipantGlad to hear of the radar activated sign.
A nice gesture would be to put a sign underneath it, similar to the “Don’t Drink & Drive
in Memory of ________” signs, memorializing Matthew Nakata, considering the proximity to the crosswalk where he was killed.Mike
September 16, 2009 at 3:36 pm #677138
CMPParticipant@11: I noticed the change for the left turn lanes as well. Instead of the left lanes turning simultaneously from both directions, they’re alternating through the cycle. Bellevue does this quite a bit and I just don’t think it’s the fastest or most logical way to program the lights.
I think SDOT is completely incompetent when it comes to signal programming though and I’ve notified them plenty of times about some of my “favorite” intersections. I once sat at E. Marginal and 4th Ave S for over two minutes with no oncoming traffic which is ridiculous. And don’t get me started on 35th and Fauntleroy. We have our own “Mercer Mess” and I can’t believe more people haven’t complained about it.
September 16, 2009 at 5:22 pm #677139
swimcatMemberI’ve noticed some tinkering with the lights along 35th between Fauntleroy and Alaska as well. Last night (Tuesday), it took THREE light cycles for me to get through the intersection of AK and 35th, heading south. wth? This has never happened before.
Also, as long as I’m complaining, ever since that Mastro (sp?) project started (and now stopped) construction on 35th & Avalon, it takes FOREVER on weekday mornings to head north on 35th. NB traffic gets backed up to AK most mornings.
I’ll be contacting SDOT about these trouble spots but was wondering if anyone else has noticed these issues along 35th.
September 16, 2009 at 8:24 pm #677140
WorldCitizenParticipantI’ve noticed it being pretty bad for a few weeks now. The timing of the light definitely needs to be addressed!! Also, I agree that maybe parking on the north side of Admiral headed eastbound doesn’t help the situation at all. This only seems to be adding to the problem in the afternoon, though (not that morning is exactly smooth). Shouldn’t this lane be for turning? Maybe making it no parking from 7-10 am and from 3-7 pm.
September 16, 2009 at 9:22 pm #677141
maplesyrupParticipantThe other day there was a huge backup on Admiral around 6PM, starting at the top of the hill heading West and running all the way through the junction.
When I finally got to the first light I counted how long it would stay green. 10 seconds. Then 2+ minutes of red, then green for 10 seconds.
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