Q&A: How to change an intersection; aligning turn-on-red signs

Doctor Detour answers your transportation questions.

Q: Who do I contact to change an intersection? Southwest 61st Avenue is a two-lane side street that feeds onto the six lane Griffin Road about a quarter-mile west of Florida’s Turnpike. Traffic gets backed up waiting for a green light. Drivers who could turn right on a red light get stuck behind someone waiting to go straight. Why can’t this lane become a dedicated right turn lane with the option to go straight put in the existing dedicated left turn lane? — Leslie Schroeder, Davie.

A: The Florida Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over Griffin Road, the town of Davie oversees Southwest 61st Avenue, and Broward County handles the traffic signal timing.

Any changes would have to be coordinated between these three agencies, said Barbara Kelleher with FDOT.

“We will have staff visit the intersection and observe the area to see the extent of the problem then decide if more action is needed,” she said.

Analysts want to make sure the solution is not worse than the problem.

For example, if drivers were given the option of going straight from a dedicated left turn lane, they would be driving into oncoming left turn traffic which would create more delays, if not collisions.

A better solution might be making northbound Southwest 61st Avenue wider and adding a dedicated right turn lane, but there is not a lot of room