Planned Intersection Changes Aim To Improve Safety

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to install by the end of this month a new set of traffic signals at the junction of Main Street, Sugar Street, South Main Street, and Glover Avenue to make the heavily-used intersection a safer place to travel.

In the planning stages since 2003, the $70,000 construction project will place new traffic control equipment at the intersection and more clearly direct traffic flow through the area. Three of the four legs of the intersection are state roads. Main Street and South Main Street are also Route 25; Sugar Street is Route 302.

DOT Transportation Engineer Merrill Sitcovsky said that traffic-flow phasing will be changed at the intersection to make travel through the area safer.

The intersection currently has two signal phases, alternating between simultaneous green signals for northbound/southbound Route 25 and then simultaneous green signals for Sugar/Glover.

Under the new design, there will be three signal phases. Besides the green phase for northbound/southbound Route 25, there will be individual green phases for Sugar Street and for Glover Avenue.

Thus, when Sugar Street motorists have a green signal, all three other legs of the intersection will have red signals. Similarly, when Glover Avenue motorists have a green signal, all three other legs of the intersection will have red signals.

Under the new design, motorists who enter the intersection from either Sugar Street or from Glover Avenue will not have any left-turn conflicts with motorists approaching the intersection from the opposite direction.

Currently, motorists who approach the intersection on northbound Route 25 receive a left-pointing green arrow, which allows them to make protected left turns onto Sugar Street for a short period before southbound Route 25 motorists are allowed to flow into the intersection on a green signal. That protected green left-turn arrow on northbound Route 25 will continue in use at the intersection, Mr Sitcovsky said.

As is now the case, southbound motorists on Route 25 will not have a protected left turn onto Glover Avenue due to the relatively few drivers who make such a left turn there, he said.

To make transit through the intersection more obvious, some pavement markings will be added to the area, restriping the approaches to the intersection on Sugar Street and Glover Avenue.

A new set of traffic signals will be installed at the intersection. The large 12-inch-diameter signals will be composed of light-emitting diodes (LED), which are highly visible. The new signals will be suspended from cables that are strung between poles.

To expedite emergency traffic through the area, emergency vehicles that are sounding sirens will automatically be given the right-of-way through the intersection, Mr Sitcovsky said.

A set of sensors will detect the approaching sirens and automatically switch the signals for those vehicles to “green.” The other legs of the intersection will automatically switch to red signals.

Also, sensors positioned in the roads at the approaches to the intersection will channel traffic volume information to a control system that will adjust signal phasing, as needed, to maximize traffic flow through the area, Mr Sitcovsky said.

The changes to be made at the intersection are expected to improve school bus travel safety through the area.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week that the new traffic signals are intended to reduce the traffic backups that occur for motorists on the Glover Avenue and the Sugar Street approaches to the intersection. The new signals should create generally better traffic flow through the intersection and reduce the number of motorists who use alternate routes to avoid that intersection, he said.