Description

Hi: I live near this intersection, and find myself regularly turning from Northbound Unser onto Westbound McMahon. The problem that I have is that during periods of high traffic volume, it is not possible to make it into the left-hand turn lane because the traffic is backed-up for the Northbound lanes on Unser. Specifically, the left lane is backed-up, which keeps anyone who needs to make a left-hand turn from doing so until the next round of green signals. So, even though there is a lot of space in the left turn lands on Unser, there are very few cars able to get to those lanes until all traffic starts moving. The same problem is also observable on Southbound Unser turning left onto Eastbound McMahon and on Eastbound McMahon turning left onto Northbound Unser. This problem is not evident on Westbound McMahon turning onto Southbound Unser.
What I would like to see happen is for these stoplights to be programmed in a manner similar to the intersection of Ellison and Coors. At the Coors and Ellison intersection, Southbound Coors gets a green light at the same time as SB Coors onto Eastbound Ellison also gets a green light. This makes it easier for traffic that needs to make the turn to reach the turning lanes and pass through the intersection. The turn signal goes red as Northbound Coors receives a green light. After a few moments, SB Coors receives the red signal as the Northbound Coors to Eastbound Ellison turning lanes receive green lights.
This approach to managing the traffic at Coors and Ellison acknowledges the large number of cars that need to turn as well as the limited turning space available. As a result, I find this to be one of the most efficiently programmed traffic signals in the city. By efficient, I mean that it is rare that I have to wait more than a single round of signals at this intersection before I can go where I need to go. And it works well in all four directions.
I think if this traffic pattern could be adapted to use the procedure for the Coors approaches to Ellison on both the Unser and McMahon approaches, the system would be much more efficient at Unser and McMahon.
I hope that you agree. Thank you for reading my suggestion.
Sincerely,
Brian