Traffic light concerns voiced

CHILLICOTHE – Traffic signal timing at side streets off South Bridge Street has become a cause for concern among some drivers in that area who have brought their complaints to state transportation officials.

Kathleen Fuller, a spokeswoman for Ohio Department of Transportation District 9, which includes Ross and Pike counties, among others, said Friday that the state agency has been receiving calls from area motorists unhappy with the signal timing in the area of South Bridge Street’s intersection with Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth streets.

ODOT last year worked with the city on a repaving project that included that area of South Bridge Street. During the work, detection loops were placed near the intersections of those side streets and South Bridge.

The detection loops, when activated by a vehicle passing over them on one of the side streets, tell the traffic signals that someone is approaching the intersection from those streets. That, in turn, begins the process to change the signal facing the side street from red to green.

Without a vehicle activating the detection loops, the lights for traffic on South Bridge Street will remain green. The detection loop idea was meant to keep traffic on Bridge Street flowing more smoothly, especially during times when little traffic is moving off the side streets.

Recently, however, motorists have been complaining about facing longer-than-usual delays at those intersections.

Fuller said it is possible that something has gone wrong with the timing of the signals and that the agency is willing to work with the city to see whether any timing adjustments need to be made or, perhaps, some other issue with the detection loops is happening.

Fuller said those who handled the design work on the paving project worked with the city to determine what type of traffic signalization was best for that area. The issue now rests primarily with the city, she added.

“Once the project construction is done, we’re out of it, so to speak, and it goes over to the city,” Fuller said.

City Engineer Tom Day could not be reached for comment Friday.