The Town has sent the signal technicians this morning to assess the equipment.

The Town did not find any defective equipment at the intersection. The Town is reviewing the timing and other operations throughout the day.

I've waited as long as 4 1/2 minutes for the Northfield/MLK light to change. At best, it tries one's patience to wait, and many do not.

YES. It's ridiculous waiting 3-4 minutes for the signal to change when there's absolutely no one. It's a hazard that makes people contemplate running a red light.

At these times, the signal changes timing plans. During this change, called transition, the signal controller is reseting itself to align with the new plan. During these times, there may be extended green along MLK Blvd.
Monday - Friday
- 6:45 AM
- 9:15 AM
- 11:15 AM
- 3:30 PM
- 7:00 PM

Saturday - Sunday
- 8:00 AM
- 11:00 AM

On weekdays, the signal runs on a 2-minute cycle from 6:45 AM to 3:30 PM, and 2.5-minute cycle to 7:00 PM. The cycle time is the maximum wait time. However, the cycles are not set during the transition periods, and the controller does not keep a maximum time limit until it resets.

On weekends, the signals also run on a 2-minute cycle. The Town will look into retiming this signal to a 1-minute cycle for Saturday and Sunday.

Thank you. Could sensors be installed as well? It seems highly inefficient to make a car wait up to 2.5-minutes when there are no other cars or incoming cars.

Sensors are already embedded in the pavement. They determine vehicle presence on Northfield Dr and whether Northfield should receive a green at the end of each 2-minute cycle. Otherwise, the signal will remain green on MLK continuously. They also cut the green time on Northfield earlier if no more vehicles are detected.

The Town has half-cycled the signal at Northfield during weekends and off-peak weekday hours. The total cycle length has been cut in half, which should reduce the wait-time from two minutes down to one minute maximum.

For any other questions or concerns, please contact the Chapel Hill Traffic Management Center at (919)969-4999.