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  Acknowledged DPW Pine Customer Service (Verified Official)

  Thank you for reporting this issue. The Department of Public Works will now begin its investigation into the matter.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Closed Traffic Signal Engineer (Verified Official)

  Short term answer, no. Long term answer, as a capital project, yes. Barrett has a maximum green time of 20 seconds and a minimum of 8. A camera detector senses westbound Barrett and extends the green with heavy traffic. Unfortunately, we cannot give it more than 20 seconds regularly. The limiting factor is that while Barrett signals are green, Mill Street signals are green too, meaning they are red for northbound Colchester Avenue. Working the signal manually during rush hour traffic it is possible to go beyond 20 seconds, watching that right turning Barrett traffic is not backing up. Most of the time, at 20 seconds, right turning traffic has nowhere to go and further green time is wasted. If we could separate Mill signals from Barrett, it would be possible to increase Barrett green. This is not practical in the current configuration. Underground conduits being installed for new pedestrian signals this year give us a possible path for new cable to run the signals separately. Minor dirt work, cable and conduit, a new controller, and a camera for Mill Street is involved. It would have to be planned and approved as a capital project. The Department of Public Works has resolved this request. Thanks for helping to keep Burlington a great place to live and work.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Reopened Erhard Mahnke (Registered User)

  Understood that DPW feels the above response has resolved the request - in terms of a response to the posting. However, this obviously does not resolve the issue itself and the post leaves a lot of doubt as to whether it well be addressed anytime soon. This situation is intolerable for people living on Barrett, Chase and Grove Streets. Virtually every afternoon, now, traffic backs up past my house across from Schmanska Park, often considerably further back towards South Burlington. I literally can't get out of the neighborhood by car if I need to get into Burlington, unless I go all the way around through South Burlington and Williston Road. Often we can't even get out of our driveway, not to mention the rudeness we encounter from people stopped bumper to bumper in our neighborhood when we try. This is only getting worse as Bayberry continues to complete buildings and lease up. We need a better answer with a real time line for when the problem will be resolved. I understand Chapin is coming to our Ward 1 NPA on Sept 12. I do hope he can address this issue more comprehensively then.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Erhard Mahnke (Registered User)

  PS - I do appreciate the in-depth explanation of why the issue can't be resolved in the short term. Unfortunately, knowing why this happens only helps our understanding, but doesn't help the situation.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Traffic Signal Engineer (Verified Official)

  Right - it would have been opaque to simply say no without explaining why. It is very interesting as an engineering exercise in signal efficiency. The new conduits being installed for pedestrian signals make separating the Barrett and Mill signals much more feasible than would otherwise be possible. Was not aware that traffic backs up that far around the corner from Barrett. Separating the signals could lessen that. When signal timing is balanced all approaches are backed up about the same. We cannot necessarily solve backup with signal timing alone, but we can more equitably distribute the green time. If one direction is backing up and others are not then green time is not optimal. There has been a lot of interest in the intersection lately. New pedestrian signals are in the works. We have new LED signals on hand for the two aerial strings on Colchester Avenue. And now the awareness of a timing issue that cannot be addressed without a minor capital upgrade. Going to reclassify this as a capital upgrade request, and we will see how this fits into our capital plan.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Traffic Signal Engineer (Verified Official)

  This issue was recategorized from Traffic Signal Problems to Transportation and Parking Improvement Request.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Erhard Mahnke (Registered User)

  Thanks for the follow-up and reclassification, much appreciated. Hope that helps. As a further follow-up: I seem to recall that the whole intersection of Colchester/Barrett & Riverside was the subject of some kind of scoping/sector study by CCRPC a couple of years ago. Former Planning Commissioner Wayne Senville represented the Ward 1 neighborhood on that. SD Ireland was supposed to contribute to intersection upgrades as part of their traffic impact payment for the Bayberry development. Do you know anything about the outcome of that study? Seems like that should have come up with a long term and more comprehensive solution.

  08/29/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Traffic Signal Engineer (Verified Official)

  I saw a proposal that purports to be a better way of configuring the intersection, but I wince at what I see as its negative attributes. Separating the signals may not have been considered at the time. Actually, this SCF is the first time it occurs to me that separating the signals is now practical, using new conduits for the pedestrian signals, and beneficial, based on the reported problem. The proposal I saw had the benefit of continuous right turns on green from WB Barrett, but at what I consider a huge hit in overall capacity, meaning no net gain in reducing backups. If there are other ideas on the table I am unaware of them. Pretty sure a large part if not all of the pedestrian signal work will be funded by impact fees, which seems reasonable. From whom exactly, not known at my level. New LED signals at the bridge will (finally) have a yellow arrow following the right turn green arrow. New LED signals at Barrett will include a SB left turn onto Barrett. Pedestrian signals are in the works this year, which also allows us to separate the signals at a less than major cost. Certainly much cheaper than the extensive dirt-work in the proposal I saw, and probably the most efficient option for this intersection.

  08/30/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Acknowledged DPW Pine Customer Service (Verified Official)

  Thank you for this update. Our staff will look back into this issue and update you as soon as we can.

  08/31/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Traffic Signal Engineer (Verified Official)

  New LED vehicle signals are installed at the bridge, and as of last week new pedestrian signals are working at the three crosswalks they were planned for. That they are up and running demonstrates that the major underground work necessary for them is done. Final cleanup and sidewalk work will resume this spring. The contractor has said there is sufficient room in this project to install another relatively short conduit run, which allows separating the signal system, at no additional cost to the city. Separating the signals to allow a continuous westbound right turn from Barrett is now a minor upgrade versus a large capital expense. Looking at late spring to mid-summer to see this done.

  12/26/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Erhard Mahnke (Registered User)

  Thanks for the update. Looking forward to seeing whether this helps reduce the backup during rush hour. Hopefully it can be completed in the spring, not mid-summer. Also, would it be possible to create a right turning lane for westbound traffic on Barrett to take full advantage of the new continuous right on green? Otherwise cars wanting to go straight towards Riverside will block that option for the cars queing up behind them when the light is red. This would mean eliminating some parking on Barrett in front of Domino's but may be necessary for the new signalization to reduce backup. I realize that may be a whole separate project, but am curious whether it could be considered.

  12/27/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Traffic Signal Engineer (Verified Official)

  Not in favor of a multi-lane approach. Would prefer to leave as-is until running new configuration for a while. May not be room for another lane, and a very narrow approach can discourage efficient throughput. "Continuous" is relative. There is no protected movement possible until westbound goes green, as it is now. Completely skipping Mills Street green is iffy. Short term idea is that 13 seconds after Barrett goes green, NB signals at Mills go green, which allows Barrett to stay green longer, removing the 20 second maximum green constraint. If approaching traffic stays tight, a lot more will get through than is currently possible.

  12/27/2018 · Flag Flagged
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  Burlington, VT (Verified Official)

  Thank you for this update. We will look back into this issue and update you as soon as we can.

  10/26/2021 · Flag Flagged

Public commenting and status changes are not available for this issue.