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Accident-prone Plantation Drive gets a red light Date published: 1/13/2009
BY HUGH MUIR
The southern Stafford intersection of Plantation Drive and Lyons Boulevard/Gladstone Drive got a traffic light last week, a project driven by a rash of accidents and the pending construction of a new library on one of its corners. The first traffic to move through the new lights appeared to go smoothly. Occasionally a hasty driver would beep his horn behind a stopped vehicle. One SUV pulling a trailer nosed out of Lyons before the light turned green and then swung widely to miss traffic that had not adjusted to the new pattern. A flashing-yellow-light system went into effect Jan. 5, to warn regular drivers in the area that their driving habits were about to be changed. Normally, the "flash" is activated 72 hours before the new traffic-control system begins. The switch to activate the multi-light system was thrown last Thursday by a team from Brothers Signal Co., based in Leesburg, which built it for the county. After some tweaking--the timing of the four-way system had to be fine-tuned, and one of the brand-new yellow lights didn't work--the system went into service Friday. "We never start a new traffic control at the beginning of a work week," said Paul Balderson, the Virginia Department of Transportation's manager of northern region operations. "We don't want to surprise too many people." Balderson, formerly based in Culpeper, has worked out of the Falmouth office for the past year. The 60-day construction job, designed by VDOT following federal specifications, cost the county some $160,000. The signal project reflected concerns over the accident history at the intersection, Balderson said. Although early studies had indicated there was not enough traffic to warrant putting a light there, a number of factors changed the situation. In recent years, major housing developments north and south of Plantation were completed: England Run and Falls Run both poured traffic onto Plantation at or near the Lyons/Gladstone crossing. Also, the opening two years ago of Exit 136 on Interstate 95 fed traffic into a rural residential road system that eventually increased the load on Plantation.
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 1/13/2009
In Spotsylvania - intersection of Gordon and
Chancellorsville - it is two years and counting... to do the
same thing...and as I recall.. more expensive...
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