Someone has had it up to here. – UPDATE
We noticed it a while a back. The lights at Columbia Road and Old Harbor changed from blinking red to normal functioning lights that go from green, to yellow to red. But the thing is, the lights are not timed correctly and so sometimes you have a green light but you can’t pass because people who are trying to turn on Columbia Road have a red light and there is gridlock. We hoped it was just a temporary error but they are still like that. Every few weeks a new sign appears! Now it’s stating that the DCR doesn’t care what the neighborhood says about the lights going back to blinking. Hmmm…them are fightin’ words!
So our questions is, why on earth did the DCR change the lights in the first place? Was it an error? Did someone complain about the blinking lights? We reached out to both the city and state to investigate but so far no answers yet. We can’t imagine it would be that difficult of a task to change it back right?
Well, one Southie resident is so pissed off about it, they actually made some signs – old school poster board and a Sharpie marker. The signs urge drivers to call the DCR at and demand the lights go back to blinking. So give ’em a call – 617-626-4990.
You can also ssue a complaint with the state, you are encouraged to call Senator Linda Dorcena Forry’s office at 617-722-1150. Let’s see how long it takes for the signs to be taken down again.
From “someone in the know,” the lights changing from blinking to functioning lights is a malfunction in the lights and the DCR is waiting on a replacement part to fix them back to blinking! So great news!
I also wanted to draw attention to the malfunctioning lights at the intersection of Columbia and G St, which do not change for eastbound traffic. I had filed a request with Boston 311 almost a year ago (3/23/15) which still has not been resolved or updated in any manner. This entry (also unresolved and also from 311) pretty eloquently sums up the issue and the related public safety concerns:
“The detectors for the EB approach on Columbia Rd is not functioning. During the off-peak when the signal is set to actuated, it is NOT providing a green signal. When approaching the driver must either wait for a vehicle to approach WB or to run the ALL RED signal. This is forcing a dangerous situation where vehicles are being forced to run a red light (especially late at night). It is even more a safety issue since vehicles approach from G St down the hill are gaining speed and can be quickly given a green light. This has been an issues for over 2 months! Please fix this problem before a serious crash occurs!”
I concur, this is a serious issue that it does not appear the City is concerned with. The fact that these two intersections in the same area have been malfunctioning for this long is an embarrassment!