Can you please find out for me why, on Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue, the stop lights on 81st and 82nd streets are constantly blinking red lights? First I thought there was a malfunction with the lights but the regular green, yellow, red lights have not come back. Is there a reason why somebody did this and is this a permanent change?
—Jeff Maddox, Hazel Dell
We shot your question over to Jeff Mize, the county’s public works spokesman, who first pointed out that most answers to your question were in The Columbian on March 9.
In a nutshell, the signal controller failed — thus taking a place in the growing queue of Clark County traffic signal upgrades and replacements.
Mize said the failed controller included some components that were more than 20 years old, and was installed when Hazel Dell Avenue was a smaller, three-lane road.
“It is important to remember that replacing a traffic signal controller is not the same as wandering over to a hardware store and picking up a few spare parts. These cabinets are specialized pieces of equipment available through specific manufacturers. They must be carefully assembled and wired, followed by quality-control checks both at the manufacturer and here at the county,” he said.
“Such testing is essential, because it makes no sense to take a significant amount of time to install the cabinet only to later discover some type of wiring flaw. When we fix something, we want to get the job done right the first time.”
Mize said this particular signal controller will be particularly complex “because one cabinet controls two different signals/intersections, and we will be converting from one brand of controller to another. Public safety during the changeover is our top priority, so we will keep the signals in the all-red flash mode until we are assured the new equipment is ready to operate at full reliability.”
He said an influx of federal stimulus funds to pay for traffic signal upgrades in Clark County and across the nation have created a backlog for manufacturers. Installation and testing and back-to-normal functioning might not get all done until sometime in May.
“This year, we expect to replace or upgrade 28 traffic signals, four times as many as were done in 2009. This is a heavy workload for our engineers and technicians who have the experience and know-how to do this specialty work,” he said.
— Scott Hewitt
Got a question about your neighborhood? We’ll get it answered. Send “What’s up with that?” questions to neighbors@columbian.com.
