Traffic Signal Improvements At Duluth’s Woodland + Snively Intersection Coming, Will Ease Congestion
Wait - it's not completely finished yet! That's the message from the St. Louis County Public Works Department about the intersection at Woodland Avenue and Snively Road.
The actual construction at the intersection wrapped up in October, and it's been open to traffic since then. However - if you've driven through it since - you've no doubt noted the congestion that is still occuring.
That congestion is tied to issues that the Public Works Department is having with the traffic signal system. Those issues have led to some long delays for motorists - particularly for northbound vehicles on Woodland Avenue turning right onto northbound Snively Road.
The main thing county officials want everyone to know is that the engineers know about the issues and they're working hard to rectify them.
A variety of different factors with the traffic signal system are causing the delays drivers are experiencing:
- The signal timing in the controller unit
- Wiring in certain signal heads
- Delay in the delivery of pedestrian push buttons, which has required the pedestrian walk phases to be displayed for each signal cycle
- Pedestrian push buttons that need to be reprogrammed
In addition the new fiber optic cable connecting the traffic signal controllers between Woodland Avenue and Snively Road and Woodland Avenue and Arrowhead Road has not been completed yet. That's prevented signal timing coordination between these two closely-spaced traffic signal systems; when one intersection is backed up, it affects the other intersection.
St. Louis County's Public Works Department has been working to fix the remaining issues since the intersection was completed in October. As part of the process, they've developed a work action plan - which "is anticipated to be implemented during the week of December 5".