During the construction the crew resurfaced a section of 57th Avenue west of the Cloverdale Bypass. In doing so they resurfaced over the motion sensor that activates the traffic lights for westbound 57th Avenue traffic. Those of us who have been in Cloverdale a long time know the sensor is near the centre line at the stop line. If we stop there at a red light, and it is a long red light because of the primary highway traffic, we know where the sensor is located even though we can no longer see it, stop over it, and the lights will change in a minute or so. There is hardly any traffic travelling in either direction on 57th Avenue at the Cloverdale Bypass which is why the sensors were put in years ago meaning a car has to stop on top of it and wait for the light to change.
Oddly enough some drivers who are not familiar with the area of the covered sensor park in the centre of the road or close to the curb and have no chance of getting the traffic lights to change. All they can do is hope a driver will come along the opposite direction westbound on 57th and activate the lights from that side. The sensor on that side of the road is visible, not resurfaced after the construction.
On Sunday night, October 28, 2012, a line painting crew showed up at the intersection. On Monday I saw the results. There is a line down the middle of the eastbound lane on 57th Avenue at the Cloverdale Bypass intersection. On the left side of the line is a left hand turn arrow.
I did not know the lines had been painted on the road. I was walking my dogs and as I was walking past the Cloverdale Legion I noticed way up there that a car had stopped against the curb at the intersection. I thought that was a weird place to stop because there is no hope of setting off the traffic lights that far off the sensor. A couple of minutes later I reached the intersection. The car is still there but now four other cars are behind it waiting to either go straight through the lights or turn right. I push the pedestrian light and immediately the lights change.
When I reached the other side I noticed the line painting had been done. Very odd. If someone is in the curb lane waiting to go straight across the Bypass and continue eastbound along 57th Avenue that puts them in a collision course to run up on the sidewalk when they reach the other side of the intersection. Or at the very least run into some of the cars parked next to GWG Tool Rentals. Cars have to change lanes in the intersection to get back on track.
Today I was walking in the area and watched a car stopped in the curb lane hoping to go straight across the road. Not going to happen unless a car turning left shows up in the newly painted left hand turn lane or oncoming traffic shows up on the other side of 57th to activate the sensor and lights. No such luck. Its just not that busy an intersection, though I would say a car usually shows up at least once every ten minutes. I stayed in front of Starbucks wondering how long its going to take before the driver figures out the lights aren't going to change. Eventually two other cars get in line behind the car stopped at the curb. I took the above picture at the 3 minute mark. At 5 minutes the first car finally gets tired of waiting and turns right toward Highway 10. The other two cars turn right too.
It appears that someone at Surrey City Hall needs to either have a sensor put in the curb lane so through traffic can get the lights to change or repaint the lines so there is no left hand turn lane. This street hardly has any traffic so a left hand turn lane is not needed. That lane could do just fine for both through and left hand turn traffic. The line painting option would be the least expensive way to go rather than tearing up the road to install a sensor.
I think its just a matter of time before someone gets impatient because the lights won't change and proceeds anyway and causes an accident.
