And the Road Commission for Oakland County said, “Let there be lights!”
Road Commission workers Friday installed the first of two traffic signals designed to regulate the northern and southern intersections of Seymour Lake and Baldwin roads in Oxford Township.
The newly-installed signal will regulate the southern intersection where the western portion of Seymour Lake Road intersects Baldwin Road.
Estate Drive, a subdivision street, forms the eastern portion of the southern intersection.
According to Road Commission spokesman Craig Bryson, the new signal will flash yellow for traffic on Baldwin Road and blink red for Seymour Lake Road (and Estate Drive) traffic until “Friday (March 5) or early next week at the latest.”
New signals flash for at least seven days after they’re installed in order to “get people used to having a light there,” Bryson said.
A second traffic signal meant for the northern intersection (where the eastern portion of Seymour Lake Road intersects Baldwin Road) will be installed “either this week or early next week,” according to Bryson.
The second signal will also flash red and yellow for at least seven days following its installation.
Bryson said the heavy traffic volumes at both intersections met the county’s criteria (called “warrants”) for placing signals.
Some the qualifications the intersections met according to Bryson were having:
n At least 750 vehicles per hour on the major street (in this case Baldwin Road) “each of any eight hours of an average day.”
n At least 75 vehicles per hour on the side street (in this case Seymour Lake Road) “each of any eight hours of an average day.”
n At least 100 vehicles per hour on the side street during the “peak hours” of traffic volume.
n At least a total of 650 vehicles per hour travelling through a three-way intersection “for one hour on an average week day.”