Descrizione
Without a doubt, the most frustrating intersection in the area. There is a set of signals at the aforementioned intersection and another at the Interstate ramp/frontage road intersection. These intersections are less than 5 car-lengths apart and the signals are completely independent! This must violate every tenet of the Traffic Engineer's Handbook!
The persistent congestion there, combined with sometimes-short cycles, means that traffic is backed up through one intersection through the other.
15 Commentos
Veronica (Ospite)
Sid Burgess (Utente registrato)
Peter Laws (Ospite)
Trey Brown (Utente registrato)
Sid Burgess (Utente registrato)
Peter Laws (Utente registrato)
Peter Laws (Ospite)
Anonymous (Ospite)
Peter (Ospite)
Peter Laws (Ospite)
Not fixed. Thought it might have been, but I think the timers that govern each half of the intersection go in and out of sync over time. That makes it appear that all is well for a while.
One traffic control cabinet needs to control ALL signals here.
Trey Brown (Utente registrato)
Trey Brown (Utente registrato)
Carol (Ospite)
The section of Robinson, as can be seen from the posts, has been the subject of much discussion over the past year. Most of the discussion seems to have a common theme and that is traffic does not move well through this area. However, key pieces of information to help us address the situation seem to be missing from all of the posts. Specifically, none of the posts identify the day of the week or the time of day that problems are occurring. Without that sort of information, we are sort of lost toward pinpointing the cause and identifying the solution.
Contrary to what the posts indicate, the traffic signals along this stretch of Robinson Street are interconnected with one another and operate in coordination with one another for a number of hours each day of the week. Without knowing what day or what time of day the observations are in reference to, it is not possible for us to determine if the signals are operating in coordination or not. If the complaints are generating during a time when the signals are not in coordination, then little can be done to address the concerns except to extend the hours of coordination which would not be a popular choice among those motorists accessing Robinson from the side streets.
In addition, there are a number of factors that influence how traffic signals that are coordinated operate. Given that Robinson Street is one of the busiest corridors in the City for emergency vehicle traffic, the most important of these for this area concerns emergency vehicles. Each of the traffic signals in this area is equipped with a pre-emption device that will take over the operation of the signal when an emergency vehicle traverses the intersection. It usually takes several cycles for an individual signal to get back in step once pre-emption has occurred. If the emergency vehicle pre-empts a number of adjacent signals, the impact to the system can make it appear as if the signals are not in sync with one another for quite a long period of time.
Pedestrian actuations can also impact the flow of traffic through this area. A lot of pedestrian actuations can throw a signal out of step with its adjacent signals as well taking several cycles to get back into step. If these occur at multiple intersections, it can also give the illusion that the signals are out of sync for a long period of time.
Finally, the side street volumes can also impact the coordination provided along a major corridor such as Robinson. Coordination timing is established based on consistent side street volumes. If these volumes are lower for some reason, then the time allocated to the side street phase is generally added to the main street. This phenomenon would make it appear that the signals were out of sync with one another as an upstream signal might turn green too early with respect to downstream signals.
The bottom line is that the tools are in place to move the traffic through this very difficult stretch of roadway in the best manner possible. The conditions that often exist tend to work against us in a number of ways as outlined above and make these tools much less effective. We have worked hard and will continue to work hard to find new solutions to the problems in this area.
To be honest, most of the problems occurring in this area are not solved simply by changing the signal timing. There are numerous problems with roadway alignment, closely spaced intersections, numerous driveways, etc. One viable solution was identified a few years ago that would have altered the frontage roads on either side of Interstate 35 to create one-way flow. This would have alleviated many of the problems occurring on Robinson Street by reducing the number of movements possible at some of the intersections. When that potential solution was taken off the table, we have sort of been back to the drawing board to identify solutions. The northwest quadrant of the Robinson/I-35 interchange is problematic because of the intensity of development that has occurred in the area. The good news is that funds will be available through the University North Park TIF to try to address more of the problems occurring in this area. In the meantime, we welcome the opportunity to discuss this with any of the individuals posting on this website should that opportunity present itself.
Trey Brown (Utente registrato)
Thank you very much for the response, Carol. I had no idea that this type of information would be needed until I had read your response.
I will definitely try to make note of the time and day that I notice issues and be more detailed in the report.
Has the city ever thought of making the Crossroads Blvd/Rambling Oaks Dr a flashing yellow on Robinson after a certain time of night? I recently saw that this was done on a similar intersection in Amarillo when I was there during a business trip. Since that intersection will certainly saw less traffic from one direction it was turned to a flashing red and the more traveled directions had a flashing yellow.
Chiusa Action Center (Utente registrato)