Questions and Answers About Your Commute : Buena Vista Signal’s Glare Can’t Be Helped

Dear Traffic Talk:

There is a traffic signal in Burbank for motorists on northbound Buena Vista Street as they approach San Fernando Boulevard (north of the railroad tracks). During the early afternoon, the sun blasts the left-turn signal, making it difficult to see when it turns green.

Is it possible to move the light, or shield it somehow so that it may be seen when the sun is shining directly on the arrow?

Adlene Sands

Sun Valley

Dear Adlene:

Burbank traffic engineer Ron Morris said that there are two signal lights at that intersection--one mounted on a post to the left of vehicles, and one hanging over the intersection. If you can’t see the left-turn arrow from one light, perhaps you could see it from the other one.

Morris said he doesn’t think it is a good idea to put louvers in front of the light because louvers block out a third of the signal light, making it less visible. The reduction in visibility is not worth the benefits of the louvers when one considers the fact the sun floods the light for only a few minutes a day, for about two months every year, Morris said.

Dear Traffic Talk:

There is an extreme case of uncoordinated traffic signals on Sepulveda Boulevard between Chatsworth Street and the Simi Valley Freeway (118). There are three signals seen by northbound and southbound drivers on Sepulveda--one at Chatsworth, one at the westbound onramp and one at the eastbound onramp.

I live nearby and have been able to progress continuously through all three signals no more than three or four times since the completion of the freeway. Perhaps the Chatsworth signal requires coordination with some other intersection, but there is little excuse for the extremely disruptive timing of the other two signals.

In the interest of reducing the pollution caused by idling and accelerating vehicles, can’t some reasonable attempt be made to coordinate the three signals?

William L. Shaw

North Hills

Dear William:

According to Pastor Casanova, a transportation engineering assistant with the city Department of Transportation, the three signals cannot be synchronized because of external factors requiring that they run on different cycles. The signal at Chatsworth needs at least 80 seconds to run through a full cycle of signals to accommodate the left-turn signals and to give pedestrians time to walk through the intersection’s long crosswalks.

In fact, the Chatsworth signal is set on a 100-second cycle to synchronize with other signals to the east and west on Chatsworth, and to the south on Sepulveda.

The onramps’ signals, however, are set at faster cycles to accommodate the flow of vehicles entering and exiting the freeway. Casanova said that in late spring 1994, they were set at 100-second cycles to synchronize with the Chatsworth signal as an experiment. However, this led to unacceptable delays for cars trying to get on or off the freeway, and the cycles were speeded up again.

“We got many complaints from citizens with the 100-second cycles,” Casanova said.

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