Nicole Freedman, the City of Newton’s Director of Transportation shares this:
Thank you all for your continued patience on the Auburndale Square Signalization Project. I want to provide you an update on the project.
As you know, in January, we received numerous complaints from the public about the concurrent signal phasing at Commonwealth and Lexington. In response to the concerns, and based on our internal review, we changed the signal phasing type from concurrent to exclusive on February 10, 2017.
Since that change, we have heard from other residents about increased delays, particularly due to the no right turn on red on Lexington southbound. Based on our engineering review, this morning, we were able to add signage to allow right turn on red after stopping for drivers making the right turn onto Commonwealth Avenue from Lexington Street southbound.
As I mentioned in our last email, our Traffic Engineer has and will continue to observe the intersection; we will continue to review the signal timing and make changes as needed, incorporating the observations of our Traffic Engineer. And, I will plan to send you regular updates to keep you abreast of our progress. Thank you again for your continued interest in this project.
Credit where it’s due: Thank you to the Transportation department for this. Ten days ago I went to City Hall with an illustrated map showing the negative issues of having the “no right turn” at that intersection. Glad to read that my and other citizens’ input was listened to and revisions were made.
Thanks Mark for your perseverance. I was surprised by that slow down too. What amazes me is that you had to take time to point out the flaws in the planning which to me is a ‘no brainer.Why are we paying people who don’t know what they are doing? I have been using that intersection for decades with the original easy turn procedure. Many intersections have been ‘upgraded’ but end up infuriating the drivers.
Now if they could just figure out the street line painting…so confusing.
@Colleen: I have found that if it seems like public employees “don’t know what they are doing”, it is usually because there is an issue that isn’t obvious that they are trying to address. Dismissing it as ignorance without trying to understand more is unhelpful and makes further communication (like @Mark had) harder. Specific critique of what they do is much more productive.
One of the issues related to right on red is safety of pedestrians. Right on red breaks the assurance of pedestrian safety at intersections with exclusive pedestrian signals (all vehicles stop, the new Auburndale configuration) and complicates concurrent signals (the old way) by reducing the effectiveness of a leading pedestrian interval.
Cambridge limits right on red at most intersections, and NYC bans it entirely.
There are ways to fix this problem, for instance using light up “no turn on red” signs that activate only when pedestrians are crossing. Alternatively, slip lanes like the one in Auburndale can be designed to slow vehicle speeds (without stopping) and maximize pedestrian visibility and safety. Otherwise, best practice in busy pedestrian areas is to use it only when needed.
The Auburndale redesign didn’t benefit from these features in part because the consulting firm didn’t have a good track record with pedestrian-friendly designs. For instance, the concurrent system they designed, while potentially faster for pedestrians to cross the intersection, required button presses for each leg, eliminating concurrent’s major benefits.
That firm was hired before the current Public Works and Transportation teams came in, so there’s some legacy problems that carried over to this project.
So, yes, things are more complicated than they seem.
A big part of citywide congestion is based upon operator distracted half-braining and ignorance esp. pedestrian crosswalk operation mode. Right on red is allowed unless signed ‘no’, even in crosswalk sequence, allowing for the preemptive pedestrian crossing and vehicle turning after pedestrian has safely passed. The unaware motorist creates the Mr Magoo effect of all traffic behind and in some cases oncoming; leading to gridlock, road rage and spilled coffee.
In yonder days, NPD would pre-assign a detail to the regular weekday gridlock hotspots; budgetary/union disenfranchisement evolved into trusting that local government planners were proficient and up to date on latest tech improvements. This reliance on government has become ‘smoke & mirrors’ public perception, as witnessed by faux-pas such as Cypress/Centre, Hawk signals (now referred to as Buzzard lites), Harvard & Wash, Beacon & Langley, etc.
your tax dollars not at work..
@ Mike – How many pedestrian Accidents have occurred since this new design? I have heard of at least 2. Didn’t hear of any occurring before this lovely design when you could make that right onto Commonwealth Ave. The pedestrians were safer Before this design.
So since we are Not Cambridge nor NYC – Hopefully the new transportation team will fix the problem. It shouldn’t take 20 minutes to go down Lexington Street if you want to get to 95 on a Weekend. If it wasn’t an issue before this design and NOW it is – Call me silly but maybe the Design was the problem.
Joanne, this thread is exactly about two major changes they have made to address first the pedestrian safety issues that came up, and second to mitigate the traffic inefficiencies that came from the change and from the original no right on red.
How much more responsive can they be? The change to the right hand turn has improved flow.
And quite possibly parts the design of the intersection could have been better from the start. No one from Public Works or Transportation leadership who was part of the initial design or consultant selection is there any more. Best anyone can hope for now is making improvements based on problems that come up.
And let’s also note that crossing the street at the two intersections up Lexington is much safer, but also contributes to the backup. Crossing the street during rush hour was a nightmare before.
I hope the city puts more thought into the changes that are planned for West Newton than they did for Auburndale!
Fifth, check out Mike’s comments above.