I travel northbound on Monterey Street five days a week while on my way to work in the morning and this signal light changes even though no vehicles approaching intersection from 3rd street. Usually takes approx. 30-45 seconds to cycle, but with no oncoming traffic in either direction.
Red Phone:
So, so sorry, good caller, because Red Phone does not have a happy ending for you. Red Phone, having some mathematical prowess, did a calculation on how many minutes you are waiting at this intersection. Let’s see, 45 seconds per day, times five days a week, times 52 weeks a year gives us 11,700 seconds of waiting time per year. This is equivalent to three hours and 15 minutes—a very long wait!
Red Phone contacted the Gilroy Traffic Engineer, Henry Servin, to find out what is wrong with the traffic lights at this intersection. Apparently, there is nothing wrong with the traffic lights!
Servin said, “The Monterey at Third Street is the oldest signal we own in Gilroy. It is on a “fixed time” operation. As opposed to our modern equipment that is “demand-response”, this signal is pretty basic. It cycles through each phase serving pedestrians and each direction of travel on a revolving cycle. A modern signal has pedestrian push buttons and ground sensors for traffic detection. We would like to modernize it as the budget allows.”
Servin added, “We had hoped to change it to a more modern design with an infrastructure improvement ballot measure last year. As the measure did not pass, the signal remains on a “do-list” that includes pavement projects and other needs. The signal works fine, albeit slowly, but we do want to get to it. We are also looking for opportunities to partner with local development to help us offset part of the cost of modernizing the signal. So far, no activity in that area.”
Servin explained, “All of our other signals in downtown are on sensor systems, and operate in a snappy manner. Recently, Caltrans upgraded the First St. and Monterey Rd. signal for us. The traffic signal at that location was also old.”
So, good caller, Gilroy has no solution yet for this inconvenience.
Perhaps there is a sugar daddy out there who would want to finally complete the upgrades to Gilroy’s traffic lights!
