There are two lanes coming out of Eagle Ridge at Club Drive. Obviously both lanes trigger the light to change. If the car coming out of Eagle Ridge (low traffic volume) is making a right turn, they stop at the right and continue south on Santa Teresa if no traffic is there. If you are travelling north on Santa Teresa (down the hill toward Club Drive), you have to stop at the light turning red from the car making a right turn, but that car has long since gone from the intersection and you are left sitting there with no traffic in any direction waiting for the light to become green again. Would you explain the reasoning why they didn’t design to have the left lane leaving Eagle Ridge be straight or left turn and the right lane only turn right, and have the lights adjusted to support that?
Red Phone looked at a satellite image of this intersection to get a better idea of your question, and saw that indeed Club Drive has two lanes leaving Eagle Ridge. It confirmed the right lane is indeed for going straight and turning right onto Santa Teresa, and the left lane is for left turns only.
Red Phone dug deeper and contacted Santa Clara County Traffic Engineer, Masoud Akbarzadeh, who was more than happy to explain the situation.
“When the traffic lights are triggered by street sensors, traffic on Santa Teresa should be stopped for about 10 to 12 seconds,” Akbarzadeh said, adding that most vehicles on Club Drive leaving Eagle Ridge turn left on Santa Teresa, but a few do turn right. According to Akbarzadeh, if a pedestrian or bicyclist triggers a crosswalk crossing, the traffic stoppage could be longer, depending on the length of the crosswalk. One potential scenario is when a bicyclist or runner triggers the traffic light and is long gone before the vehicle on Santa Teresa stops at the intersection. The driver of the vehicle might think a vehicle turning onto Santa Teresa triggered the light and would have to wait longer than expected for the light to turn green.
Akbarzadeh also said eventually the county will change the left lane on Club Drive into a protected left turn lane going both ways. This, of course, would not solve your problem, good caller. The real problem is that Club Drive is too narrow at the intersection to create a separate right turn lane.
At the request of Red Phone, Akbarzadeh said he would check the operation of the traffic lights in case they are not working properly. Red Phone also suggests taking deep breaths when waiting for the lights to change.
