Writing a story about the Broadway Corridor Study that was just conducted to figure out what could improve the traffic flow there and came across an interesting little tidbit that I guess I'd never thought of at the intersection with Broadway and Church/Lake Avenue.

The left-hand turn signal coming off off of Lake/Church is backwards!

What I mean by that is that if you are taking a left from Lake Avenue onto Broadway you will get a green light first, followed by a green left-turn arrow — the reverse of what you might get at, say, any other intersection anywhere.

Some City Council members were questioning the sequence the other night at their meeting but representatives of Greenman-Pedersen Inc., traffic engineers, said there is, in fact, a reason for that.

Apparently, about 30 years ago the light was just like a normal one and you could turn left first, but that meant that they were often turning in front of pedestrians trying to cross Broadway, rather than waiting for them to cross.

With the left-hand turn signal coming second, pedestrians have the opportunity to get a head-start across the road before traffic tries to take that left turn and that will make the traffic wait for them.

In fact, I was sitting in the third-floor of City Hall (in the law library I didn't realize existed) trying to get a good video of the traffic situation at that intersection and I saw this in practice. By the time a car got the green turn arrow, a person was already halfway across the road and the car waited.



So there you go. There is a reason for everything.

Hello out there in SeeClickFix land.
After writing the article on the Gilbert Road intersection with State Route 29 (Lake Avenue) for Monday's SeeClickFix article (Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wirth adds Gilbert Road/Route 29 junction to list of intersections to address), I received this e-mail from another concerned citizen:

Allow me to add my concerns about the intersection of Gilbert Rd. and Rt. 29. As a resident of the Meadowbrook Area, we travel to the Wilton Mall area, almost daily. It is almost impossible to get from Gilbert Rd. to Weible at the "offset" intersection at Rt. 29, unless some sympathetic driver allows you "in" at Rt. 29. This intersection is exacerbated by two "green turn arrows" at the Rt. 29 and Weible intersection signal.

When all is "clear", traffic bursts out of Weible on the Green Arrow.

I have had so many "near misses" that I now go past Gilbert, to Henning Rd, (longer but safer) and enter Rt. 29 at the Henning Signal. Then turn right toward Weible and safely make the left turn since the signal is on Rt. 29 at Weible.

John Ginley
10 Winding Brook Dr.

When I spoke to Commissioner Richard Wirth, he agreed to work on getting me -- and thus you -- a follow-up story with some reports on these intersections and concerns that have been expressed to him over the last couple months through this continuing series. "Nothing is being ignored," he said, adding that as soon as the city's traffic safety control officer, Mark Benacquista, gets some free time to evaluate the issues. He has, in the past, generated reports specifically for the SeeClickFix users.
I'll keep at it, though, and make sure some there is a conclusion to some of these SeeClickFix complaints.