Council to discuss traffic control at Main and Second Avenue

    The Washington City Council will take up the issue of traffic control at the intersection of Second Avenue and East Main Street at its regular meeting Wednesday night. The old library sits on the northwest corner of the intersection, and the city?s plan to move some of its offices there has brought attention to the traffic light that regulates the intersection.

    Council member Merlin Hagie raised the issue of traffic control at the intersection at the council meeting on Nov. 4. At that time, Hagie told the council that the traffic light at the intersection is inefficient because it does not have sensors to detect when vehicles are waiting at red lights. The light is on a fixed timer that is green an equal length of time for north-south traffic as it is for east-west traffic. Hagie said that is the main problem because Second Avenue, which runs north and south, receives much more traffic than Main Street.

    Hagie said that the solution to the problem is to have a green light as the default setting on Second Avenue and have sensors on Main Street to detect when vehicles are present. Second Avenue?s light would only turn red when a vehicle is present on Main Street or when a pedestrian wishes to cross the street. Hagie said that it is important to ensure the safety of children going in and out of the YMCA and the day care center.

For the full article, see the Dec. 1 edition of the Washington Evening Journal.