Our Public Works Department will investigate and respond. This is an NCDOT intersection so they would be responsible for making any improvements.

Response from the City of Raleigh's Public Works Department:

As a little background this intersection falls on the NCDOT State Highway System however the City maintains this intersection for the State under a municipal agreement. At some point medians designed and installed on both approaches of Varsity. At the time the volumes were substantially lower (Centennial Campus was barely developed) and the design functioned well. As traffic volumes increased on Avent Ferry and Varsity (due to the development of Centennial Campus) the geometric setup (negative offset) combined with the short signal phase for Varsity has made turning left onto Avent Ferry more difficult in peak hours. The high angle crashes at this intersection have increased with volume however this intersection still has a low severity index and crashes per million vehicle miles. The City has a High Hazard Location program to address the most dangerous locations (intersections) in the City limit. The locations are determined by compilation of various reported crash data. This location is not on the list (the 2008 list had 77 locations). That said City staff has taken steps to decrease the frequency of high angle crashes at this intersection. A red light running camera was installed and early indications show a decrease in crashes. In addition staff has been working on a memo/study to improve the signal phasing to reduce the possible conflicts per cycle. Since this location does fall on the State System, City staff can not implement the changes unless NCDOT concurs. We are finalizing our report and hope to send it to the NCDOT Division office shortly for consideration. The City just maintains the signals at this intersection and all changes signal or infrastructure (tweaking the median) would need to be approved by the State.

Additional comment from the City of Raleigh's Public Works Department:

Staff has been looking at this intersection (Avent Ferry and Varsity) for several years. The City installed a Red Light Camera to help combat the high angle crashes associated with red light running. We have seen a decrease in these types of collisions. In addition the median layout on both Varsity Drive approaches combined with the roadway geometry, and a significant increase in traffic to/from Centennial campus, have created a less then ideal situation. City staff has looked at tweaking the signal phasing to allow left turning traffic to egress for Varsity Drive minimizing the conflicts with through traffic. This location (intersection) does fall on the NC State Highway System so we have been running simulation models to come up with a phase or two that will have little impact on the intersection’s level of service for Avent Ferry. Avent Ferry has very high volume of traffic and NCDOT would most likely shoot down any City proposal that would severely impact this. We believe we have an acceptable solution and will be working with NCDOT in the next months seeking approval. Upon approval the City will implement the changes hopefully reducing (even further) the high angle collisions at this location.

Another problem with this intersection is that it seems like the Varsity Dr. traffic has priority over the Avent Ferry traffic. I do not know how many time that I have been driving on Avent Ferry when the light was green for an amount of time insufficient to allow all of the backed up traffic to clear, yet the light was green on Varsity when no traffic was anywhere close. This does not just occur when traffic is heavy, but when traffic is light, Avent Ferry does not have a long green light.

NCDOT has accepted City Transportation Operations staff recommendation on changed signal timing here. They still need to do a new wiring diagram and signal plan here, then we will implement. I am going to leave this one open for now until we have a better idea when this will take place.

That is great news, I may no longer have to play Russian Roulette when trying to make a left turn. :-)

There are also sight issues that impact this intersections saftey. I agree that there should be either a left/left only then straight/straight sequence, or a sequence that allows traffic to exit campus, then enter campus. Making the left turn from Cent Campus to Avent Ferry is dangerour during peak hours.

NCDOT has OK'd improvements to the signal timing. It will take the work of a contractor because it is a bit more than just reprogramming the timing box. Expect that this will be done in a couple of months.