Description
Lately my commute has taken me through downtown Ansonia, especially when Division as closed. I was stunned that a topic I had seen here long ago has not been addressed.
Here in this photo is the INSANE TRAFFIC SIGNAL on Main Street at the corner of Treemont that about every 60 seconds almost around the clock turns red and stops Main Street for NO REASON.
Treemont is a one way so no traffic flows from it to Main. Bank of America is across and that is an EXIT from the bank. Cars from either side do not need to turn into the bank parking lot and need a signal to assist them,
Cars on Main heading towards Big Y have a VERY clear view if they are one of the few that wishes to turn left onto Treemont from Main to use one of the parking spaces. They can easily simply pause until clear and make a left turn. This has to be one out of 2000 cars that pass through.
The signal is not setup to turn red to let people out of the bank safely (the only logical reason for it to exist) because it turns red all morning and all night when the bank parking lot is empty. MAYBE if the purpose of this signal was to allow safe exit from the bank to make a left onto Main it may make some sense.
At the very least this signal needs to have a sensor added to ONLY go red when someone wants to exit the bank. Does the bank pay for this? Is the city unaware of this useless signal that is only a few hundred feet from the one at Big Y?
14 Comments
Why Indeed? (Guest)
Ward 6 (Registered User)
Alderman Pat Henri, 6th Ward
Ryan Healey (Registered User)
Ward 6,
THANK YOU! I have wondered about this crazy signal also. However, like most residents I roll my eyes, assume city employees certainly can see (and suffer) with the same problem and are asking around. WRONG!
The fact there is a signal a few hundred feet from the Big Y one already makes no sense, forget that this one has no purpose. It also loves to turn red just as the Big Y one has gone green, causing traffic to almost always have to stop twice heading towards Spector Furniture... for no known reason other than someone felt like hanging a signal there.
True, it is a state highway, but someone was able to finally get a left turn arrow installed on the signal further down beyond Crave where it was dangerous as heck to make a left hand turn before (over the bridge, forget the street name). Perhaps the state will listen to this too.. IF the City presents it.
I'd even be willing to hear the logic for the signal to be there discussed. Can someone thing of one? A reason why it doesn't have a sensor for the bank exit?
We want people visiting downtown. Making people stop/start every few hundred feet makes them go around... not travel down Main and see and perhaps visit the businesses. Signals are needed at logical places.. that isn't one of them. It's bad enough one got added for Target (although I give them there was little way around it without making Target exit at the same intersection as Big Y.)
Display Name Blocked (344547) (Registered User)
Having a business a hundred feet away from this signal, you gain a different perspective. When the lights at Bridge and Tremont are green, Main street becomes an expressway. I've seen fully loaded tractor trailers flying at 40+ Try crossing the street at one of these moments. There IS a logic for this light. It SLOWS traffic down. Exactly the thing that annoys you. This is a 25 MPH zone. If drivers had any common sense, they would drive the speed limit and it would not be necessary. That will unfortunately, never happen.
William Luneski
L2 Innovate Computers & Technology
334 Main Street
Ansonia, Ct 06401
Bob Guy (Registered User)
Ward 6 (Registered User)
Pat Henri
Alderman, 6th Ward
WARNING (Guest)
me (Guest)
I actually created a complaint here several YEARS ago... 161458... still open... as follows:
a) traffic light changes whether a car is in the bank exit or not
b) the light is longer for the bank exit than the main road
c) the road across from the bank is a one way road and does not use the traffic light
d) the Target entrance down the street has the same setup (no oncoming traffic from across the street) but has the OPPOSITE problem (takes up to 60 seconds to get the green light from the main street)
me (Guest)
me (Guest)
I believe that someone else had another complaint posted here that was closed by a responder. Someone mentioned the cost of having the light ownership abandoned... all this so they can make it more logical?
I myself would be happy just to change the light timing... or perhaps the light trigger in the bank is broken, who would fix that?
me (Guest)
me (Guest)
Ryan Healey (Registered User)
William Luneski ,
You sir, have expressed EXACTLY why so many downtowns are dying. Motorists do NOT want to travel on a street that makes them stop every couple hundred feet. They want to reach their destination.
Ansonia has a busy downtown, but also has a major danger to the entire downtown business district.. EAST MAIN. Unlike many cities, East Main provides a clear detour around downtown from nearly start to finish without pesky signals every block or at the end of bank exits where they don't belong.
If drivers find Main Street slow to navigate, all they need so it use East Main and no lights, no pedestrians to pause for and NOT even seeing the businesses on Main to get where they need to go.. forget about stopping at one!
No Main Street should not be a highway, people should not speed down it.. but it's signals have to be logical and setup in a way that stops a expressway but makes traveling through the area a pleasure, not pain. If lights had sensors to turn red WHEN NEEDED this would allow much smoother traffic flow.
The one at Treemont is just a waste...
Not every downtown has a "bypass street" that threatens to kill off potential customers. Ansonia does and that is why it (and cities whose downtowns are laid out like it) need to be very careful with how they restrict traffic flow.. or they'll have empty storefronts.
(Let us not forget West Main, which does the same thing... but won't detour all the way. Yet another way to skip a signal or two on Main.
Be careful what you wish for...
クローズド special treatment (Registered User)