The Seattle Times: Traffic: Stoplights are out of sync

Q: Traffic on the Alaskan Way Viaduct was recently brought to a standstill for several hours on a weekday afternoon by a fatal collision in the Alaskan Way Viaduct's southbound lanes near Qwest Field. Highway 99 southbound was closed from the Battery Street Tunnel all the way to the West Seattle Bridge.

The Jan. 10 backup spilled onto city streets, and Ballard resident Rusty Coe was caught in heavy traffic on Denny Way. "I was stunned at how all the [traffic] lights were out of sync on Denny," he said, complaining that when one light was green, the light a block ahead would be red. "I watched a light change four times without anyone moving," he said.

That's not the only time he's experienced such bad traffic flow along Denny, he said. "It happens every morning, also. The only times when the traffic lights seem to be right is late at night when nobody is on the roads.

A: Katherine Casseday, Seattle's director of traffic management, says her department hasn't found any problems with signal-control equipment along Denny.

The Aurora Avenue exit to Denny Way seemed to work pretty well until about 5:30 p.m., when streets became clogged with vehicles seeking alternate southbound routes on Jan. 10, she said. Because of increased traffic heading for southbound Interstate 5 as a detour, Mercer Street also was extremely congested, she noted.

"During the afternoon and evening peak commutes, our signal timing is designed to give more time to the higher volumes of traffic, usually away from downtown Seattle," Casseday said. Drivers heading south from Magnolia to downtown would be moving against that progression of traffic and signal timing during that time of day, she noted.

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Q: Bobbie May of Redmond asked Bumper to get the word to traffic planners, particularly those in Redmond, that the raised medians and islands used to separate lanes of traffic, especially turn lanes, need some sort of safety reflectors.

"At night (and in the fog) it is difficult to see these islands and see where the turn lanes begin," May said.

Those medians can be found in a number of places. One is the busy intersection at 148th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 24th Street, where Bellevue and Redmond meet.

May suggests that those medians be painted with reflective striping, or fitted with reflectors "and then maintained."

A: "We agree that increasing the visibility of median-island noses would allow more drivers to recognize the objects and better avoid contact," said David Alm, Redmond's transportation-operations manager.

Street lighting, reflective paint, raised reflective markers and reflective posts or signs are most commonly used to steer traffic away from hitting those medians, he said.

However, paint tends to lose most of its reflectivity when it gets wet, he added, and streetlights are not always effective.

Even the raised reflective markers often used on or near those medians can lose reflectivity over time due to scratching or being covered by paint or dirt, Alm said. "Still, we agree wholeheartedly with this concern and are working to increase the level of median delineation throughout our city."

Alm said Redmond has recently started installing reflective pavement markers with new medians, and the Eastside city is considering a program to retrofit existing medians.

Meanwhile, Alm says drivers who spot medians that seem to need attention should report them to Redmond traffic operations at 425-556-2752.

• Peg Witham of Kirkland asks: "Is it just me or do you and your readers notice an increase in the number of people running red lights at intersections?

"My experience is that it used to be seldom. But within the last months I've noticed that when I'm at a red light and it turns green, I don't move but wait for those running the red light going the other way."

Because of that, Witham says, "I find I'm waiting at my green lights longer and longer. Of course there are never police around to show these folks the error of their ways."

• Drivers can now get real-time traffic and weather information by dialing 511 from most phones.

Callers also can use 511 to get free information on statewide construction, mountain-pass conditions and state ferry updates, as well as toll-free numbers for passenger rail and airlines.