Resident Wants Green Arrow Installed at James/South
State road needs town blessing before consideration of change.
To the Editor:
There is a "no turn on red" restriction at the traffic light on James Street at the corner of South Street between the hours of 9 a.m and 9 p.m. As a result the traffic on James Street is often backed up for one or two blocks, which prevents vehicles from getting into the lefthand lane to make a left turn onto South Street as well as backing up traffic on side streets. Allowing a turn on a green arrow would be a vast improvement to improving the traffic flow. In addition, it would reduce the exhaust pollution from all the vehicles that are waiting to make the turn onto South Street.
I know that the “no turn on red” on James Street was implemented several years ago because of accidents that were occurring; however, I can see no reason why there could not be a green arrow allowing a right hand turn off when the west bound traffic on South Street has a green arrow for a left hand turn onto James Street. At that point the pedestrian light for crossing James Street is still yellow so there should be no conflict. Such a light would have
no impact on the east bound traffic as they have to wait for the green arrow on west bound traffic to change anyway.
Sometime ago I wrote to the state, requesting their consideration of installing a green arrow light. They indicated that in order for them to consider such an option they would need the support of the local authorities. As a result I wrote a letter in June. To date, I have not had a reply.
I have often thought about attempting to get a petition started for the above suggestion. I have talked to many individuals in Morristown and Morris Township who use James Street and support this position.
If you support adding such a light, please contact the following:
Mr. Jeffrey Hartke
Town of Morristown
200 South St., CN 914
Morristown, NJ 07963
George Lonsberry
Morris Township
Stephen Harris
10:06 pm on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
agree good idea
Chris Katz
10:48 pm on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Needed! Less pollution, better flow of traffic, happier drivers. Works for me!
Debra Gottsleben
6:17 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Sounds good to me too!
Pam Patterson
9:08 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
I think there should always be a right turn on red there . I live on James Street so am using that corner everyday. You have a clean line of sight to the left so I can't understand the no turn in red to begin with- anything would be an improvement
Kendra Arnold
9:34 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
don't see a problem off hand with the green arrow, but making this always right on red makes it hard for pedestrians to cross the street.
There are several intersections downtown that are right on red, and cars end up pulling into the crosswalk and stopping, forcing people on foot to walk into the roadway or to walk between cars, making them hard to see. This intersection is probably the one of the busiest for both cars and pedestrians and giving people walking to King's a clean break to cross is really needed.
George Lonsberry
10:30 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
This change should not impact pedestrian crossing of James St at all. The green arrow on James St would only apply when the west bound traffice on South St has a left hand green arrow. At that time the pedestrians have a yellow do not walk light.
Mike Ippolito
11:43 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
I am on this road every morning as well. Maybe mabe the no turn on red til say 4 PM?
Kendra Arnold
12:21 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
A green arrow would gregory here, think George is right, with that, but right on red, no matter what time of day really stinks if you ate a pedestrian. Drivers really look to the right for people walking, because they are so intent on looking for a clear space to turn.
Chris
4:17 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Agreed. This is a good start, but the traffic in Morristown definitely needs to be looked at.
I think that lights leading out of Morristown should be green for just a little bit longer. This would allow for people to quickly get out of town and get out of the way of everyone else. This goes for the lights on Speedwell, South Street and Morris. Let those lights stay green so everyone can flush out of Morristown more quickly.
Plus, it seems that there is no proper traffic flow. Once one light turns green, the next light ahead turns red. And when I am sitting at a red light, nobody is even moving in the other direction because the only green light is pointing at an empty road that nobody is even driving on. I feel this is especially true for the light on Spring Street/Morris Street by the Dunkin Donuts. I will sit at the light for 2 minutes and nobody is coming in from any other direction.
I feel that the majority of the traffic problems in town are caused by the poor traffic lights that aren't in sync with each other and don't allow the streets with most of the traffic to flow freely.
I think that with a quick study (and some input from residents like you and I), can really make the traffic flow much more smoothly in town.
Jeff Grayzel
12:49 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
I agree. Not enough traffic can flow through that intersection in the morning. An alternative would be to allow the left lane (on James st) to turn both left and right, so you have two lines being able to make that right on a gree light.