Five intersections scheduled to change, studying additional locations to save drivers time, gasoline
To improve the flow of traffic throughout the city, the City of Fort Wayne's Traffic Engineering Department plans to modify select traffic signals for off-peak driving times.
The City has identified five lights to change this month and looks to make additional lights flash yellow on the major roadway and red on the secondary section of the intersection.
Traffic Engineering is evaluating traffic lights for locations such as shopping centers and schools that have specific hours of operation or intersections of arterial roads and residential streets during nighttime hours when the volume of traffic is much lower.
The change will save drivers time, can reduce gasoline consumption and reduce greenhouse gases.
“Changing traffic lights at logical locations to flash instead of the traditional red-yellow-green rotation not only will save Fort Wayne drivers time, but also save them gasoline by avoiding idling at an empty intersection and reducing the amount of tailpipe emissions,” said Mayor Tom Henry. “It will reduce times at these stoplights during evening or early morning hours for drivers in both directions. I have yet to meet a driver who doesn't want to spend less time at stoplights.”
The City identified the following intersections to go to a red-yellow flashing schedule.
Midnight to 6 a.m. starting Friday, Aug. 15:
'¢ Main Street and Osage Street
'¢ Main Street and Runnion Avenue
10 p.m. to 9 a.m. starting Aug. 22:
'¢ Stellhorn Road and Northwood Plaza shopping center
'¢ Maplecrest Road and Northwood Plaza shopping center
'¢ St. Joseph Center Road and St. Joe Village shopping center
Traffic Engineering is evaluating traffic counts and patterns throughout Fort Wayne's streets for other locations where changing traffic lights during off-peak hours would make sense. The City will announce when traffic light operations will change as a result of this study.