Thanh: How about feeding your stories to Miriam? ;-) Gee, I miss her on the radio — except when she ran block for City government.

I think a web site to communicate with the public is a great idea! Getting around town is something that affects everyone, and I’m sure you will get a good response to it.

rachel – Every signal in the city (and probably just about every signal in the country) utilizes a “conflict monitor”. These devices are hard-wired to prevent any conflicting movements from occurring and are tested regularly. If the monitor detects a conflict, the signal will go into flash mode until the problem is fixed. What you probably saw was just as you assumed, people running the red light. If you do suspect there is a problem with a signal though, please call Public Works at (540) 434-5928.

Dave (Maket & Country Club/Vine/Sheetz) – We would love to put an arrow up for those turning into Sheetz, though we are currently unable to do so. To put it in a nutshell, each protected movement at an intersection is assigned a ‘phase’, be it a left turn, through movement, or right turn during which you have no conflicting traffic for your movement. An intersection can be programmed with a maximum of 8 of these. Keeping it simple, all 8 are currently in use at this intersection; therefore, a ninth, unavailable, phase would be needed to program a left turn arrow for that movement. We are currently looking into ways to reprogram the intersection to make it safer in general.

Scott (Valley Mall & University) – As far as the arrow goes, if you are headed out of the bank/hotel lot or out of the mall, both sides do come up separately. I will look into what we can do to make the signal/signage clearer for everyone.

Dave (coordination on S. Main St) – We are working hard to improve the coordination in this ‘corridor’, while also trying to prevent excessive side street delay. This is often a balancing act when coordinating a system of signals. We’ve experienced good ‘progression’ (traveling on Main St smoothly without full stops) during most of the day, but we hope to do much better and are working on an improved coordination plan.

Dave/Renee (coordination on Market St) – Vine St through Cantrell Ave are wired to one another on a ‘system’, while University Ave through Chestnut Ridge Dr (including signals on University and Burgess) are wired together on another system. Carlton and Cantrell are currently coordinated with one another and we are looking into coordinating Vine with them as well (please see comment below). The University through Chestnut Ridge system was coordinated just the other week. If you are experiencing poor coordination within either of the two systems, please feel welcome to give us a call and I will be happy to see what is happening.

Jack – Those responsible for coordination before our new Transportation Management team were unable to coordinate certain intersection, such as Vine/Market/Country Club, due to the complexity caused by the number of movements at the intersection and the fact that they did not have the resources to run a computer model to coordinate the intersection well. We are capable of coordinating Market St at the intersection of Market & Vine if we wish to do so, though we have been hesitant due to the amount of delay it will likely cause the already congested side streets. We are currently working on a coordination plan to accommodate everyone’s needs at the intersection, though have yet to find a model with which we are pleased. As for the “old control systems”, I’m not sure who told you that, but I’m glad they were incorrect!

I’m excited to say that we will be finished with the new Traffic Engineering Division website in the near future. The site will go over the basics of how the city’s signals are timed and coordinated and will give everyone a look at the components used to operate a signalized intersection. We would love to hear everyone’s comments and suggestions, which is why the new site will also include a comment form dedicated to signal-related concerns. I encourage everyone to use the new form when it is released. In the meantime, if you would like to follow up or have any questions, please feel free to call the Public Works Department at (540) 434-5928.

The roundabout likely only works for some traffic scenarios, so it’s not too surprising there aren’t any others currently in the works, but I am always impressed at how well it works over on Linda Lane.

Thanks again for highlighting this work by the City to improve and refine traffic patterns. Without such information, I think it’s easy for some people to assume the City doesn’t care and isn’t doing anything.

Scott, I’m glad, and I am confident to speak for my colleagues and say that, we’re glad you like the roundabout on Linda Lane! Current road projects in the works do not have plans for traffic circles/roundabouts (i.e. Erickson Avenue-Stone Spring Road, Port Republic Road, Reservoir Street, etc). However, there have been discussions of a possible roundabout on Mt Clinton Pike to service also Park Rd (EMU entrance) and Chicago Ave. That project along with future widening of Mt Clinton Pike between Virginia Avenue and west city limits has no timeline (until development in the surrounding area, including the County, occurs to warrant such need), and its not definitive that a roundabout would be there. There are also a few other private developments that show smaller roundabouts in their plans, so we may be seeing more soon.