JOSHUA SILLS/Arizona Daily Wildcat A left hand turn signal on East Speedway Boulevard for cars turning on to North Park Avenue is expected to be put in place within a month.

Intersection at Park and Speedway gets new light

Finally, the City of Tucson has seen the light.

The city plans to install, in the next month, a left-hand turn signal at the intersection of North Park Avenue and East Speedway Boulevard.

"We've been pushing the city on this for years," said David Duffy, director of campus and facilities planning.

The decision resulted from a study on March 4, 2003, to determine the intersection's eligibility for a left-hand turn signal, said Michael Graham, spokesman for Tucson's Department of Transportation. The results from the study came in two weeks ago.

"It should be complete in one month," Graham said of the turn signal. The city is in the process of ordering the turn arrow components, such as a new lamp and a frame to house it, equipment needed to upgrade the intersection's signal.

The arrow, which will be installed in the left-hand turn lane on westbound Speedway will not be difficult to add to the intersection because the intersection's infrastructure is already operational, he said.

"It's pretty inexpensive because everything is in place already," Graham said, referring to installation cost.

Graham said there would be both benefits and setbacks to installing the signal.

"The positives will be that it will facilitate traffic to the UA Main Gate and to parking structures," he said. "It will alleviate congestion on Euclid and at other intersections on Speedway with left-turn arrows."

According to Graham, the down side will be the reduced time for east and westbound traffic on Speedway. Installing the signal will require the city to take some green light time away from those traveling on Speedway.

All intersections in Tucson run on a 90-second cycle, which planners have determined to be the ideal amount of time for a car to get from one intersection to another without hitting a red light.

Taking green time away from North Park Avenue is impossible because people need to safely cross Speedway, Graham said.

Delay, or the number of seconds a vehicle sits without moving at a light, was one of three criteria the study considered when determining if the intersection warranted a left-hand turn signal.

An intersection meets the criteria for a signal when the time spent stopped at a light exceeds 35 seconds. The study found that Speedway's westbound traffic had a delay time of 116 seconds, said Graham.

"I've been waiting for that [decision] for a long time," Chris Jackson, a choral conducting graduate student. "I don't enjoy waiting in the turning lane for 10 minutes, waiting to turn there."

The other two criteria the city used to determine turn signal eligibility were accidents and volume.

Volume, the number of vehicles waiting to make a left hand turn, also met city criteria. The March study found that over 100 vehicles sought to make left hand turns in a one-hour period.

North Park Avenue and East Speedway Boulevard failed to meet the accident requirement, however. City criterion requires an intersection have five or more accidents in a 12-month period to achieve left-turn signal status.

The study reported zero accidents for the intersection.

Graham alluded to no specific reason for the study's initiative. He said the city performs studies every two to three years. The city, he said, receives calls about certain streets, puts them on a list, prioritizes the list, and then performs studies accordingly.

Regardless of the city's motives for performing the study, many students and faculty are happy about the upcoming turn signal.

"I think it's extremely timely," said Art Silvers, director of the school of public administration and policy. "I have sat through two or three lights trying to get through. The waste of time is ridiculous."

"Yay!" said studio arts senior, Laura Adams, hopping back and clapping her hands. "I don't think I can be any happier about that."