After months of hovering overhead shrouded in black plastic at the busy corner of Nassau Street and Washington Road/Vandeventer Avenue, the new traffic light system finally got the green light to become operational.
The new light now gives motorists entering the intersection from Washington Road a complete green light cycle to go straight or to turn left or right onto Nassau. That traffic then is halted by a red light, while Vandeventer traffic is permitted to access the intersection. In the past motorists from Washington Road had a left hand turn arrow that enabled them to turn in advance of the Vandeventer traffic.
Many continued to turn left even after the green arrow went off, forcing Vandeventer
motorists to force their way into the intersection.
Officials offered conflicting reasons for the delays. On the day of the change a worker was asked what had caused the problem. His response: “They were arguing over who would pay the electric bill.”
A quibble from pedestrians: The system has buttons for pedestrians to trigger the walk/don’t walk signals. But if no one pushes the button the signal says “don’t
walk” through the entire cycle, even when it should obviously state “walk.”
