City Staff Answers Questions About the Traffic Signal Removal Test at Regent and Segoe

Please continue to send emails and voice your comments to the Traffic Signal Removal Test by calling 608-267-1969 or sending an email to safestreets@cityofmadison.com. I also encourage you to attend the upcoming virtual Public Information Meeting via Zoom on July 19th at 6:30 pm to give input on the possible removal of the traffic lights at this intersection. Please register in advance for the July 19, 2023 Public Information Meeting Registration  at https://cityofmadison.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lYAzSpiMQzOQNxsJEmt6cA#/registration   

City Process, Meetings

• Public Information Meeting via Zoom on July 19th at 6:30 pm

• Transportation Commission: July 26, 2023, The design team will present the street layout options to the Transportation Commission.
• Assessment Mailings: Aug. 11, 2023, 
• Board of Public Works Public Hearing: Aug. 23, 2023
• Common Council Public Hearing: Sept. 5, 2023
   

I received permission from an area resident to share a recent exchange they had with city staff about the traffic signal removal test being conducted at the intersection of Regent Street and Segoe Road. The questions and answers provide additional information about the fate of the traffic signals at this intersection. 
 

On Friday, July 14, 2023, at 10:11 am, a city resident wrote to traffic@cityofmadison.com:

Good morning,

I have some questions about how your test of removing traffic signals at the intersection of Regent and Segoe is being evaluated. I hope you will take the time to respond.

• How are you assessing whether people comply with the stop signs, other than looking for reports of collisions that resulted in police calls? My personal observation is that there is minimal compliance.
• How are you assessing the amount of time it takes pedestrians to cross the intersection to reach the bus stops, and comparing this to the time it take with traffic lights?
• How are you assessing pedestrian and bicycle safety, other than ambulance calls?
• How will a test during July inform you of the traffic flow of this intersection during the school year when there is much increased traffic due to parents dropping children at Van Hise and Hamilton, school bus routes, and much higher UW student population in the area as well as higher UW faculty and staff resident in the are traveling to campus through the intersection?
• How will a test now inform you of the traffic flow of this intersection when there is full occupancy in the new housing that is being built along N. Segoe and Sheboygan and there are many more residents in the area who are likely to be traveling through the intersection?

I appreciate that you want to make sure that traffic signals are of value. I merely want to ensure that this remains a safe place to live. Removing a traffic signal at the same time that the city is focusing on increasing population density, and thus traffic density, in this area seems counterintuitive. I would be very interested in hearing more about the reasoning behind this initiative.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
 

 

On 7/14/2023 at 11:49 am, a city staff member wrote back to the resident:

Good morning,
To provide a little background before answering your questions. The upcoming Segoe, Sheboygan resurfacing project and utility work is anticipated to damage the existing traffic signal infrastructure which we originally weren’t expecting. Due to the age of the infrastructure and its current condition we would anticipate a pretty significant amount of work in order to restore the signal. We collected traffic counts last year during the school year and found that the traffic volumes weren’t there to warrant a signal. We modeled an all way stop and found it operated fairly similarly to the existing signal from a traffic operations standpoint, and generally all way stop control intersections have some safety benefits too.

So we thought an option would be that if we did in fact lose the signal due to the construction project, would an all way stop as an interim measure be acceptable until we can come up with funding and a more substantial project focusing on the intersection in order to address how we think might be the best operation to handle the anticipated Hill Farms traffic if/when that comes. That interim period may only be a year or two, or it could be a bit longer.

To answer your questions: We will be onsite next week during different times of the day making observations, collecting some traffic data, and recording some footage. These observations, the input we receive at the upcoming public information meetings (first one is next week), and the comments we’ve received will help guide our decisions on what to do in the case of losing the signal now, and what to do here in the long term.

We are evaluating delay, including pedestrian delay of various intersection controls, and will also be looking out for those observations while we’re onsite. Pedestrian delay is one big area where an all way stop generally out performs a traffic signal in terms of delay as they don’t have to wait for a pedestrian phase.

In terms of ped and bike safety, we are evaluating this intersection by, making field observations and relying on safety records at other all way stops in the city and other places. There are several all way stop intersections (Speedway – Highland, Sprecher – Milwaukee, American Parkway – Hoepker, and Old Sauk – Old Middleton) where we’ve received a number of requests for traffic signals, but believe a traffic signal would increase crashes and make crash severity worse than the all way stop configuration which slows everyone down and requires users to be attentive to the intersection.

One example of a common complaint we’ve heard is bikes not obeying the signal and wanting to know what we plan on doing to address that? The answer to that would be that we don’t have adequate bike detection here which requires us to recall the phases which is not ideal. In addition, low compliance is a pretty common issue at signals that aren’t warranted or have detection deficiencies as this one does (specifically for bikes).

Regarding school operations, our original turning movement study was performed during the school year last fall and the existing scenario models were based on those vehicle, pedestrian, and bike counts. Our observations now may be during non-school times, but our initial modeling was based on school operations. We also wanted to have this test in place or complete before the first PIM of the Segoe and Sheboygan resurfacing meetings so the neighborhood could go into those meetings with an idea one way or another of their opinions.

Regarding future volumes. We’ve analyzed the intersection using the projected peak hour volumes from the Hill Farms development and found that either a signal or roundabout would be needed when those volumes materialize. We just won’t really know if that will be soon, or years down the road. In addition, if those volumes are as projected we anticipate requests for different signal operations that are there today. We’re already hearing concerns about pedestrian safety at all way stops, but if the signal was to be restored as is, you have a situation where drivers are making left turns on green at higher speeds across a conflict point, so I would anticipate requests for left turn arrows for example.

We plan on ending the trial after we make some field observations at which point the barrels will be removed and signal turned back on. Hopefully the project doesn’t disrupt the signal next year and we can keep the signal operating normally while we start looking at the future here. However, we wanted to have a plan in place for the ‘worst case’ scenario, and thought an all way stop might be a good bridge between now and when Hill Farms opens up and we can have one project to address that rather than multiple.

I hope that answers your questions, please feel free to reach out if you have any others. We appreciate all the feedback we’ve received and hope that while this may be a shocking change in the short term, it will lead to a better outcome in the long term for those living and traveling through the area.


On 7/14/2023 1:20 pm, the resident wrote back to the city staff member:

Hi,

I appreciate your prompt and thorough response. If I'm understanding correctly, your planned resurfacing project is going to break the existing signal infrastructure, but maybe it won't. And if it does, you don't have money to replace it and you're not sure what the best replacement would be now or in the future so you want to see if the low budget option, stop signs, would work for now.

If you can actually get drivers to stop so that the intersection is an all-way stop, and you have pedestrian walk lights, then I'm sure that would work in the short run if necessary. Could you have your observers record actual stopping as part of their information, and perhaps be discreet enough that it's representative? I know that crashes are the city's primary metric, but I also have an interest in feeling safe and comfortable even without crashes.

Thank you,
 

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