A request came before the Royal Oak Traffic and Safety Committee to address the traffic light at 12 Mile and Connecticut. Currently that traffic light gives green lights to both crossing streets. However, there is not much traffic on Connecticut.

The city staff recommendation was to give a green light to 12 Mile traffic and only give a green to Connecticut when a car was present. The City would need to add a car detectors in the pavement.

The problem I saw was Connecticut is a major north-south connector for cyclists. The Red Run Golf Course prevents other north-south routes. I did not want to see cyclists waiting at Connecticut, failing to trigger a green light, and simply going through a red light.

I recommended the City add pavement markings letting cyclists know where they need to locate their bike on Connecticut in order to receive a green signal. There is a national standard for such markings as well as information signs. That recommendation turned into a motion that was approved by the Traffic and Safety Committee and is going before the City Commission tonight.

At that same Traffic Safety Committee meeting, I brought copies of Ann Arbor’s Traffic Calming guide, which I blogged about earlier this year. That Guide is in the Commissioners packets tonight as well.

Tags: Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, traffic calming

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under On-road bicycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.