The Intersection
When the city planners changed the intersection at Knob Creek and Sunset the northbound traffic pattern of Knob Creek Rd. shifted dramatically. At times the wait for a green light exceeds two minutes and cars have to wait through two cycles to get through unlike the earlier intersection which rarely had more than five cars in the lane at the light and most of the time the wait was ten or fifteen seconds.
The city planners changed the right turn only lane into a through/right turn, and changed the through/left turn lane into a left turn only. Now, traffic back ups to twenty cars long with the left turn lane empty, and motorists have to wait through two cycles to get through the intersection.
So, just for the fun of it, and to let the city engineers know what’s happening, I’ve recorded at random what the intersection looks like over the past year. I know, it’s petty, but you’d think the engineers would be able to create LESS congestion not more. The reason given for the change was that the previous through/left turn lane was confusing to drivers because the intersection angles to the right. Drivers in that old through/left turn lane had to angle to the right to catch the right lane of the other side of Knob Creek.
So, why not put dashed guidance lines to direct the flow as they have in other intersections? Instead, congestion, and adding delays to my drive when I used to breeze through the intersection except for the occasional left turning car blocking the through lane. Now, through cars block the right lane most of the time. Yet, giving credit to the engineers, the intersection may be safer since the number of variables have dropped in the intersection (only three lanes of traffic versus four, and a straight path through the intersection).
-
- The Pavement
