Light rail trains get priority over cars at intersections
QI find your column really enlightening, often reading about issues that I had just been griping about.
My gripe is that
I take Highway 87 and to get to the on-ramp, I take
San Carlos Street to Woz Way and then turn left. One morning there was a light rail train coming that crosses over the path of turning traffic. So we stopped and waited patiently for the train to pass. After it had passed, rather than the light rotation picking up where it left off, the rotation started at the beginning, with the left turning traffic pushed to the end of the rotation.
This is annoying enough but you just grit your teeth and wait. Except that day there were two trains in succession and so the left turning traffic missed their turn twice. Traffic was backing up behind me through the prior light on San Carlos. This is not unusual.
Isn’t there some way that the lights can be synchronized to keep track of the rotation and pick up where they left off when the train arrived?
ASan Jose city workers went out and checked the signals at San Carlos Street and Woz Way and found them working as designed. Two VTA light rail lines cross this intersection. This means that there are several possible directions in which a light rail vehicle can travel through here, each one potentially having vehicle or pedestrian phases.
Throughout the city, light rail is given signal priority, which means when a signal has to decide whether to give a green signal to a car or train, the train gets it. When there are closely spaced light rail vehicles, it can mean a longer wait for someone in their car at that intersection.
QWhat’s with the perpetual construction on Coleman Avenue between Newhall Drive and Brokaw Road in San Jose?
Do contractors actually have permits to close all but one lane in the morning and evening commutes, backing up traffic for miles? This, along with the new Airfield pot dispensary, are creating a nuisance on Coleman. This is now the marijuana distribution center for the city of Santa Clara with cars trying to enter and exit this tiny building and parking lot. — Kirk Miller
AYou need more patience. The work is part of the new Coleman Highline development north of Avaya Stadium, which will be adding a little under a million square feet of office/industrial space over the next five years and improving Coleman over that time.
A contractor is closing lanes between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m for utility work and preparing for the widening of Coleman from Aviation Avenue to about 800 feet eastward.
That work will be underway this summer and should wrap up by the end of the year. Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/ mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@ bayareanewsgroup.com or 408-920-5037.