The traffic light at the intersection of Highway 90 and Lakewood Drive allows additional green time for US 90 traffic after the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development made a timing adjustment last week, according to Daniel Gitlin, a spokesperson for DOTD.
Gitlin said the department was made aware of timing complaints at the intersection in mid-October.
“We will continue to monitor and provide timing adjustments as needed,” Gitlin said.
Gitlin said timing for traffic lights is mathematically constructed using data like the annual average daily traffic, which ensures that federal highways run at peak capacity.
“The time a light is green for highway traffic versus those on side streets is generally not equal,” he said. “Laws mandate a certain amount of traffic to move through an intersection per hour to create a max [traffic] flow rate for US highways.”
He said there is a minimum 12 second green time for traffic lights on side streets. But, for side streets with higher traffic counts, sensors will trigger additional green time. This ensures enough time to clear essential traffic safely, according to Gitlin.
“Some people mistakenly think that traffic lights that cross a state or federal highway should have an equal percentage of green time by default or assume they only work correctly when they let all waiting traffic pass through an intersection,” Gitlin said. “Federal highways, such as US 90, have requirements that DOTD traffic engineers must ensure are met.”
