Last week we got complaints from drivers heading south on Wellwood Avenue in Babylon, saying the change in traffic lights was causing tie-ups during rush-hour.
Instead of a green arrow-solid green ball, the traffic light was changed to green arrow/red arrow, causing a major backup of traffic because of cars trying to head east on Southern State Parkway.
Suffolk County Public Works Commissioner Gilbert Anderson looked into the problem and, “a lot of the traffic problems are due to the construction that’s going on at the bridge (the overpass for the Southern State Parkway on Wellwood) right now," he said, "We’ve gone out there and changed some equipment, revised the timing of the light. There should be a significant improvement as a result of these changes.”
We appreciate his quick response, especially if drivers are moving more smoothly and quickly through the area.
Comments (4)
They should also add a turning lane farther up by the train tracks and the cemetery's. IT backs up because of people turning to go east and then verybody has to get over to the right lane.
The red/green turning arrow to go west on Southern State off Wellwood is tying everything up, too. For instance, this morning there were five cars that could have turned because there was no traffic going south on Wellwood but they had the red arrow. By the time the arrow turned green (for the time it took only one car to go) the cars were lined up--spilling out of the short turning lane and into the other lane. The red arrows to get on Southern State in either direction are messing up the traffic flow, please switch back to green arrow/steady green.
I noticed that now the turning arrow when you're getting off the Southern State form the East onto Wellwood is too short and therefore causing the exit traffic to back up onto the Southern State. It took me 4 light changes this morning to get onto Wellwood.
Rush-hour drivers who complained about the traffic jam caused by the new traffic light configuration said the problem had been fixed...still a problem for some?