Saw this in the OC Register yesterday- Doctor Road Map
Q. When heading north on Lakeview Avenue and turning west at Orangethorpe Avenue toward Placentia, the left-turn arrow allows only three cars during evening rush hour. Why not more?
A. Like for so many other intersections adjacent to the busy Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks, this one must accommodate long freight trains as well as cars.
“The timing for this left turn is different, because we cannot allow vehicles to get backed up onto the tracks in case a train is coming,” says Steven Drinovsky, the public works director for Placentia. “However, if the signal timing is malfunctioning, then it needs to be adjusted. We will double-check to make sure it is functioning as programmed.”
Drinovsky added that that intersection is slated to be turned into an under-crossing, with construction starting in 2013. Once completed, the city engineers can time the lights like any normal intersection without having to dodge trains.
Q. Why can’t Yorba Linda implement a traffic-signal timing project along Yorba Linda Boulevard? As it is, I’m stopped by every one of the many lights along that street.
– Scott Greene, Yorba Linda
A. “The lights are definitely timed, but only during weekday peak hours,” says Tony Wang, Yorba Linda’s traffic engineering manager.
Wang explains that during weekday morning and evening rush hours, the lights are coordinated to give the priority to commute traffic, which generally heads to and from the freeways at either end of the long thoroughfare. Traffic in either direction gains this advantage.
“On weekends and during non-peak periods, local traffic generates most of the trips within town, so we allow cross traffic to interrupt Yorba Linda Boulevard, because we don’t want to delay the circulation within town.”
