BY PEPPER FISHER
Port Angeles – If you spend any time in downtown Port Angeles, you may have noticed those new traffic signs at the intersections where First Street and Front Street meet Lincoln Street. The signs tell drivers there’s no right turn allowed when the sign is lit.
Our listener Tammy Hartley noticed and called the KONP newsroom.
“I have a question about the new street lights on First and Lincoln. So, they don’t really correlate. When you’re going straight up First Street, the light can be green, but now they have new turn signals in, and the turn signal will be red. And, we were talking about it at work and everyone’s kind of confused. Do you turn when it’s red, or do you wait for the green? Anyways, just kind of a silly question I was curious about.”
We think it’s a good question, and City Engineer Jonathan Boehme agrees. Boehme says the new lights were a joint project between the Washington State Dept. of Transportation and the City of Port Angeles, designed to enhance pedestrian safety.
“Yeah, so it’s a really good question. These are our first ones in Port Angeles. The “no right turn on red” sign, what we’ll talk about, for example, First Street. It’s intended for vehicles turning eastbound from First Street to southbound on Lincoln Street. So, that “no right turn on red” sign, it was installed to help improve pedestrian safety in the crosswalk crossing First Street. So, how do we use that? Well, when a pedestrian crossing First Street activates that push button, the “no right turn on red” sign is going to illuminate when the walk sign is on for that pedestrian. So, when that vehicle is seeing the “no right turn on red” sign illuminated, vehicles are not permitted to turn right from First Street to South Lincoln.”
Once the light turns off, vehicles can make a right turn when it’s safe to do so.
Many thanks to Tammy Hartley for calling in with her question and helping us turn it into news you can use.