Thank you for submitting your request to the Howard County Department of Public Works\Traffic Engineering. Our staff will investigate this issue and respond.

All Howard county traffic signal presence detection is either by video detection camera or in-pavement loops. The traffic signal presence detection on the southeastern approach of Oakland Mills Road at this location operates as three e 6' x 30' electromagnetic induction loops behind the stop line. While at this time, neither the existing detection mechanism nor interface equipment is guaranteed to pick- up bicycle presence, they often are detected due to the metal in the bicycle frame or change in shadow in the video detection zone. Shifting in the zone will sometimes cause the controller to drop the call for the associated phase. Advancing technologies in detection are taken into consideration with feasibility of integration with existing infrastructure. The signal shop has been notified to investigate the operation of the detection. We thank you for your patience.

Thanks for the prompt response. I tried shifting across the white line and centering where my wheel touches the ground over the induction loop (from what I could tell of it's location). I even tried moving over to the side and waving the driver behind me forward to help trigger the signal, but they didn't see my motioning or weren't interested. I did notice that after I ran the red light, the traffic that was behind me passed me about 30s later, so presumably the loop is working, just that my bicycle doesn't have enough concentrated metal to trigger a cycle change. My bike's frame is carbon, so the only metal is really in the wheels and components.

Is it possible to implement both styles of detection on the same signal as a form of redundnacy/availability? I find that the video detection usually works, especially if I use the strobe mode on my headlight (or I could just get lucky with the timing).

Thanks again for responding so quickly, this is a very impressive service!

Jason B.

An excellent question, however, the controller can only interpret one style detection input per leg, and the existing strain poles are not tall enough to mount a camera high enough to capture an adequate zone.

Thank you for reporting your issue/request to the Howard County Department of Public Works\Traffic Engineering Division. This issue has been addressed and will be closed in Tell HoCo. If you require more information, please contact Department of Public Works Highways office 410-313-2430.