Seriously, can we fix the Rosslyn Light Timing?

[dasgeh]

Bumping this to its own thread, in the hopes that are friends in the County can get this fixed. As a reminder, here’s the situation with the light timing at Lee and Lynn:

@dasgeh 29255 wrote:

From the past few days of riding, it seems the light cycle runs:
1) leading pedestrian walk for peds heading East/West (from the MVT onto the Custis or the reverse) (all cars have red)
2) green light for cars heading West (from ramp to Lee) & walk for peds heading East/West (cars heading North on Lynn towards Key Bridge have red)
3) green light for cars heading West & countdown for peds heading East/West (cars heading North have red)
4) green light for cars heading West & hand for peds heading East/West (cars heading North have red)
5) yellow light for cars heading West & hand for peds heading East/West (cars heading North have red)

6) leading pedestrian walk for peds heading North/South (along Lynn) (all cars have red)
7) green light for cars heading North & walk for peds heading North/South (cars heading West have red)
green light for cars heading North & countdown for peds heading North/South (cars heading West have red)
9) green light for cars heading North & hand for peds heading North/South (cars heading West have red)
10) yellow light for cars heading North & hand for peds heading North/South (cars heading West have red)

While I could see why you would want the cycle to include a protected right turn for the cars on the ramp, including #4 in the cycle is not the way to do this. It’s not normally seen in traffic design, and it just makes it look like the light cycle is broken. So lots of people cross with the hand.

On the other side of the light cycle, it makes no sense to have #9 — cars headed North can’t turn right onto that one way ramp, so there’s no reason to give peds the hand while the cars have green.

Moreover, with the current timing, it seems impossible to cross through both the lights at Fort Myer and Lynn when heading East without stopping for the long cycle at both lights. That also breeds frustration that leads to red-hand-running.

As others have noted, lots of cyclists are running the “hand” and the situation is dangerous. This morning there were easily 15 people (cyclists and pedestrians) lined up to cross East bound. There were too many of us to get through with the “walking person” – I was a few back and was in the intersection when the countdown ended, and there were certainly people who started after the countdown ended.

What do we need to do to get this fixed?

Topic

[Dickie]

@vvill 30209 wrote:

I usually take it a step further when I’m going west bound and take Van Buren => E Columbia => Little Falls since I pop off the W&OD at Little Falls anyway. I often prefer crossing as road traffic at the E Columbia / 29 light rather than ped traffic at a busier intersection.

Awesome VVill, gonna use this one. I actually go the same way every morning, but have been getting off the trail at Van Buren, and heading up to Westmoreland, just to make a left on Lee and a right on Little Falls… you just saved me that hideously long light at Lee and the temptation to spend money at Tri360! Cheers!

[americancyclo]

@Dirt 30249 wrote:

It is weird and inconsistent. I haven’t been riding through Rosslyn much lately… Once last week, twice the week before.. None of those times were the lights timed correctly. Today I rolled through at about 2pm and they were perfect.

This morning th Ft. Meyer / Rosslyn intersection combo was equally in my favor heading east. Has anything been done, or do the lights have independent timing that sync up coincidentally in a cyclical manner?

[americancyclo]

@vvill 30209 wrote:

when I’m going west bound and take Van Buren => E Columbia => Little Falls since I pop off the W&OD at Little Falls anyway. I often prefer crossing as road traffic at the E Columbia / 29 light rather than ped traffic at a busier intersection.

This is the way Garmin and Open Street Maps always wants to route me through this area! Are you a machine?

[consularrider]

@vvill 30209 wrote:

… I usually take it a step further when I’m going west bound [to cross Lee Highway] and take Van Buren => E Columbia => Little Falls since I pop off the W&OD at Little Falls anyway. I often prefer crossing as road traffic at the E Columbia / 29 light rather than ped traffic at a busier intersection.

That’s become my preferred route going west as well except early on weekend mornings. I just can’t figure out the timing of the Columbia/Lee traffic light. If I’m the only vehicle on Columbia, sometimes it seems to take forever to get the green light, but I don’t see anything to indicate that the light is on other than a timed cycle. There are pedestrian light buttons, but they are very inconveniently located for someone on a bike.

[consularrider]

@jnva 30234 wrote:

It used to be (a few months ago maybe) that you would get the walk signal automatically. Now you have to hit the button for the walk signal.

In all the years I’ve been riding through this interesection, I’ve never seen the pedestrian light come on except when the button has been pushed. I complained about that on this board when I first joined. Especially for west bound traffic is extremely dangerous because that’s the only light facing westbound trail traffic. If I remember right, the traffic engineer’s response was basically too bad, bikes should push the button and wait another light cycle.

[Mikey]

@consularrider 30278 wrote:

In all the years I’ve been riding through this interesection, I’ve never seen the pedestrian light come on except when the button has been pushed. I complained about that on this board when I first joined. Especially for west bound traffic is extremely dangerous because that’s the only light facing westbound trail traffic. If I remember right, the traffic engineer’s response was basically too bad, bikes should push the button and wait another light cycle.

Could you imagine the hubbub if a car had to wait 2 cycles to get the green.

[jnva]

@consularrider 30278 wrote:

In all the years I’ve been riding through this interesection, I’ve never seen the pedestrian light come on except when the button has been pushed. I complained about that on this board when I first joined. Especially for west bound traffic is extremely dangerous because that’s the only light facing westbound trail traffic. If I remember right, the traffic engineer’s response was basically too bad, bikes should push the button and wait another light cycle.

Hmmm, that’s strange. I used to never push the button and would get the walk light until recently. I roll through that intersection around 9:30.

[Author]

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