Stop Lights In Midtown

[themidtownguy]

Every time I drive down Elgin I wonder why they never replaced some of the old stop lights. elgin/ austin intersection and elgin/ caroline.

[kjb434]

They are waiting to see if the lightrail may use or portion of it. If it doesn't, they'll rebuild Elgin in the future which would entil upgrading the lights.

[Kirzania]

Are you talking about upgrading to the LEDs or just the style of the lights?

[skwatra]

ok, this is off topic but it is about stop lights and it reminded me about something i wanted to mention for a while.

in central florida, they have intersections designated as "right lane continuous green" i've seen this in other places as well, but most recently i've been spending time in cocoa beach and KSC.

basically, if there's a road heading north and T'ing into a larger road, the westbound larger road will have a right-lane continous green, so when the smaller road needs a left turn, those cars will turn into the closer westbound lane, and the farther lane will still have a green.

before the intersection, there is signage on the westbound road, and a barrier is created (4 ft poles a few feet apart) keeping people in their lane. and of course, the right lane always has a green light.

i think this would be great for streets like Memorial, Allen and NASA parkway to name a few. what do you guys think?

i know i'm going to hear a lot of "houston drivers can't handle that" but like anything, it would take some time and accidents for people to get used to it.

check out page 31 of this report for a graphic:

report from NCDOT

[Kirzania]

I know what you're talking about and it's a really nice feature. If Houston were to implement this, I could probably only see it on Allen Parkway and Memorial.

The only fault I find with it is during high-traffic periods, people making rights from smaller roads onto the main road face serious problems. (Example: Daytona during Bike Week.) This isn't to say that Allen/Memorial are always busy, but if something was going on at the park, then...

[RedScare]

Doesn't Taft turning west onto Allen Pkwy already use a form of this?

[MidtownCoog]

We could also use the Michigan Left concept.

It would reduce rail accidents.

Google it for more info.

[Kirzania]

We could also use the Michigan Left concept.

It would reduce rail accidents.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I find these to be as ingenius as PA jughandles. They create backup and confusion across the board. Anyone who has ever been to the Lehigh Valley Mall and driven down MacArthur can vouch for this.

[skwatra]

I know what you're talking about and it's a really nice feature. If Houston were to implement this, I could probably only see it on Allen Parkway and Memorial.

The only fault I find with it is during high-traffic periods, people making rights from smaller roads onto the main road face serious problems. (Example: Daytona during Bike Week.) This isn't to say that Allen/Memorial are always busy, but if something was going on at the park, then...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

not sure if you didn't follow the concept, or if i'm not understanding you,

but there is no difference for the right turners from the smaller roads. they will still get a green light to turn right when the others on the small street get their green to turn left.

the only thing i see is during high traffic, people on the larger road would try and get in the right lane and cause accidents/slow downs.

[westguy]

Michigan Left's are not responsible for the backups we already have. I do them myself sometimes because it is a lot safer than having your tail sticking out in the left lane of traffic (or in front of the rail line) as most Houstonians do.

[dbigtex56]

Here's the link for Michigan Left.

Interesting concept, although the additional cuts through the meridian would detract from the scenic quality.

[Subdude]

Anyone who has ever been to the Lehigh Valley Mall and driven down MacArthur can vouch for this.

Haven't been there, but I've been to Hawk Mountain nearby!

Here's the link for Michigan Left.

Interesting concept, although the additional cuts through the meridian would detract from the scenic quality.

That's the first I've seen that. I can see where it might be confusing for some drivers. It looks like one downside is that when they turn right to start the left turn, they have to immediately cut through traffic to the far left lane to make the U-turn.

[MidtownCoog]

They seem to work well, but I had to have someone explain it to me the first time I drove one.

Of course, you can do them on your own along the light rail.

Just make the block!

[kjb434]

The Gontinuous Green T is used on Allen Parkway at Taft as mentione before.

[tierwestah]

Back to the topic: alot of Houston's lights in the downtown/midtown/ and 3rd Ward areas do need to be upgraded. Alot of them are out of date and some are even real dim which makes it harder for the driver to see during the day. There are several intersections that have lights are burned out only leaving one of the lights working. I think the City of Houston should look more to these outages because I believe they somewhat can contribute to Red Light accidents

[travelguy_73]

Back to the topic: alot of Houston's lights in the downtown/midtown/ and 3rd Ward areas do need to be upgraded. Alot of them are out of date and some are even real dim which makes it harder for the driver to see during the day. There are several intersections that have lights are burned out only leaving one of the lights working. I think the City of Houston should look more to these outages because I believe they somewhat can contribute to Red Light accidents

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not to sound like a City of Houston employee, LOL, but anytime you see a burned out stop light, call 311 and report it. The City is making slow progress to LED lights, but they are expensive and I believe they only replace them as part of capital projects or by specific request. I requested a new LED lamp for the entrance to my old 'hood, and the wish was granted relatively quickly because the existing light was old and dim.

[YakuzaIce]

Not to sound like a City of Houston employee, LOL, but anytime you see a burned out stop light, call 311 and report it.  The City is making slow progress to LED lights, but they are expensive and I believe they only replace them as part of capital projects or by specific request.  I requested a new LED lamp for the entrance to my old 'hood, and the wish was granted relatively quickly because the existing light was old and dim.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, every time I have called 311 they have fixed the problem within one or two days. Maybe I have just had good experiences, but they have been very prompt for me.

[editor]

ok, this is off topic but it is about stop lights and it reminded me about something i wanted to mention for a while.

in central florida, they have intersections designated as "right lane continuous green" i've seen this in other places as well, but most recently i've been spending time in cocoa beach and KSC.

basically, if there's a road heading north and T'ing into a larger road, the westbound larger road will have a right-lane continous green, so when the smaller road needs a left turn, those cars will turn into the closer westbound lane, and the farther lane will still have a green.

before the intersection, there is signage on the westbound road, and a barrier is created (4 ft poles a few feet apart) keeping people in their lane. and of course, the right lane always has a green light.

i think this would be great for streets like Memorial, Allen and NASA parkway to name a few. what do you guys think?

i know i'm going to hear a lot of "houston drivers can't handle that" but like anything, it would take some time and accidents for people to get used to it.

check out page 31 of this report for a graphic:

report from NCDOT

They have this in West Virginia, too. It rocks and makes total sense. I don't know why so few places have it.

[Casual Observer]

The only problem I see with this is that people have a tendency to come to a complete stop when making a right turn BOTH on protect green lights and right turns into dedicated right-turn lanes.

morons..

Otherwise, this and the Michigan Left seem like they could work here, better than our current system of "bob and weave" at unprotected left turns green lights.

[midtown_resident]

New Jersey has the "All Turns" concept - i.e. no matter what you're doing, Uturn, leftturn or rightturn....you take a right. But they are loops - so there isn't a lot of stop and go. If anyone has ever driven up US Route 1 in Jersey...they'd notice this.

[Kirzania]

I don't remember that at all... Of course, my memory is pretty shoddy. And mighty confused... Jug handles?

Do you mean like this? Route 1

[ssullivan]

TxDOT has actually used Michigan lefts in the Houston area as a temporary measure. I've seen them along sections of US 59 north of New Caney and south of Rosenburg where the highway is not a full, controlled access freeway yet. In these cases, TxDOT has closed traditional crossovers, forcing traffic from a road crossing 59 to turn right, then a U-turn ramp is used further down the highway for traffic trying to head the opposite direction on the highway to make the U-turn. I'm not sure if any of these that were south of Rosenburg are still there; the couple that were north of New Caney were removed several years ago when that section was upgraded to a full freeway and the last at-grade crossings were removed.