Culprit intersection, during an unusually quiet time Tuesday night
KINGSTON – Traffic is often backed up at the top of Albany Avenue, near Kingston’s Academy Green. The logjam of cars, trucks and buses can gridlock all the way back to I-587, also known as Col. Chandler Drive.
The confusing mess of vehicles turning left on green coming south on Clinton Avenue out of the Stockade, combined with those turning right on red into the Stockade, plus elderly pedestrians crossing from the Governor Clinton senior housing complex, is aggravated by a hidden private driveway located smack dab in the middle of the intersection.
Around the corner from this rolling circus, is a maddening three-way stop sign leading to Kingston Plaza, with another hidden private driveway, exacerbating the gridlock.
Council members have gotten “a litany of phone calls from commuters complaining about the backup to 587 for a couple of minutes,” noted Mayor Shayne Gallo.
“The idea would be, how can we compromise with public safety for the residents of the Governor Clinton, but also insure an orderly flow of traffic, particularly during peak periods at rush hour,” Gallo said. “Public Safety will take another look at it later this month, and we’ll see what comes out.”
Last month, Gallo issued an executive order changing the right-on-red sign to “no turn on red,” in an attempt to prompt the city council to remedy the situation with a more rational set of traffic rules.
The result, so far, is even more confusion down at City Hall, as aldermen attempt to decipher the 21-year-old ordinance. Monday’s caucus meeting transformed into a cacophony of disorder, after corporate counsel dug up the actual law, revealing that the right-on-red has been officially banned from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Somewhere along the line, a different sign was erected at the corner of Clinton and Albany avenues allowing a window between noon and 1 p.m., but there is no corresponding law on the books authorizing that change.
This lunchtime loophole caused the trouble, and was remedied 21 years ago, but nobody knew that fact until the caucus meeting Monday night, when the actual law was unearthed.
Seventh Ward Councilwoman Mary Ann Mills suggested looking into signaling options, during Tuesday’s common council meeting. Gallo, however, warned that a change in the traffic light pattern for another customized turn signal would cost the city at least $50,000.
