Traffic Light Confusion
By Dan Rivoli
Posted by Our Town on November 4, 2009 · View Comments
Two weeks ago, the Department of Transportation added a “Wait for Walk” sign to make it easier to cross the intersection at East 79th Street and York Avenue.
But residents are still complaining that traffic signals at the wide intersection are confusing for pedestrians.
When the left-turn signal for traffic heading north on York Avenue and turning onto 79th Street is green, so are the lights for traffic that is heading north on York Avenue but going straight. Southbound traffic on York Avenue, however, is at a red light—and that’s what pedestrians tend to pay attention to. Even though a “Don’t Walk” signal indicates that vehicles are crossing the intersection, pedestrians often start walking because they see that southbound York Avenue traffic has a red light.
“When they see a red light and traffic has stopped, they are used to walking,” said Betty Cooper Wallerstein, head of the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association. “Now, people stop in the middle of the street.”
The Department of Transportation, however, is standing by the current traffic light configuration. To stop northbound traffic while the left-turn lane flows would create more back up along York Avenue, “counter-acting the benefit of the left turn signal,” wrote Margaret Forgione, the department’s borough commissioner, in a letter to Assembly Member Micah Kellner.
Forgione noted that her department and the New York City Police Department are monitoring the intersection for issues raised by Kellner and Wallerstein.
