I agree 100%! Very frustrating.

From a pedestrian perspective, I agree that the timing at this particular intersection needs to be reviewed. After pressing the "beg button" it can take multiple cycles until pedestrians are given the light to cross.

Yes! Agree!!

Allyssa Jewell assigned this issue to Town Engineer

As I am retired, I use this intersection at all hours during the day and into the evening, and I have always found it to be far and away one of the very fasted, which is to say promptly, changing traffic signal lights in town. From my personal perspective, I therefore have no choice but to conclude that either there happen to be rather occasional, very random glitches that occur every now and then - and clearly have never happened any time I have ever gone through this intersection - or that just perhaps some people's sense of time awareness is after all a wee bit skewed.

Sorry, we are either talking about a different intersection, or you are talking about east/west traffic, which is highly prioritized. As my description mentioned, please try approaching from the north (from Muzi), or South (from St. Sebastians). Waits of 2-3 minutes are common - please review.

This is exactly why I am so very much puzzled about this situation. Regarding the intersection of Kendrick Ave and Hunting Rd, I travel in the north to south and south to north directions on Hunting Road easily as much as I do in the east to west and west to east directions on Kendrick Ave and I have never had occasion to encounter any discernible difference in the red to green signal change interval among any of the four directional approaches. If anything, I have noticed that the Hunting Road crossing Kendrick Ave light ordinarily affords an even QUICKER change in one's favor than the one dedicated to directing Kendrick Ave traffic across Hunting Road. To be honest, I have to admit that I am totally baffled by the apparently significant differences between my own experience of this intersection's signal light timing pattern and that of some other motorists - as indicated by them in this forum - utilizing this crossing. Could it possibly be the case that if one is indeed in a hurry to navigate that - or any other, for that matter - intersection in one particular direction as opposed to the other that it might just SEEM to take longer for the light to change in one's favor? Just thinking.

No need to theorize - here's some actual timing data a conducted today...(Sunday)

Hunting Rd. at Kendrick St. Intersection
Sunday, 3/19/17, 1:30pm, All time in seconds, from northbound on Hunting Rd at Kendrick:
Green Red (seconds)
10 75
24 85
16 98
14 74
14 81
19 82
10 90
Avg 15.3 83.6
Med 14 s 82 seconds

Essentially, the wait time for northbound traffic is almost 5 times the median wait time for west bound traffic. During off peak hours this is absurd and cause unnecessary delays for northbound traffic when there is zero east/west traffic. I will take some measures again during rush hour to determine if the signals change profile during that time.

Regards.

I admire your exhaustive research and personal diligence. My only possible explanation for the gross discrepancy between our separate, individual observations is that this apparent signal malfunction has just recently begun to occur - within the last two weeks or so - while the unusually cold weather has managed to keep me housebound due to various health conditions. Thank you very much for your input.

I agree with jgelis - this has been an issue with the timing. Thanks for providing the concrete data. I can say that I have noticed this for at least a few months time. It has been posted as an issue before, but seems that it hasn't been fully addressed.

I agree with jgelis as well, and it is definitely not a recent occurrence (within the last two weeks or so)...this has been an issue for as long as those new lights have been operational. Thank you for providing concrete, irrefutable data...it is very much appreciated (and hopefully enough motivation to finally have this issue addressed/resolved). Thanks again.

Thx all for the comments. FWIW, I went out Tuesday at 1:30pm to determine if anything changes during the mid-week/week day, but the results were essentially the same, with wait periods for north/south traffic roughly 5-6 times the wait time of east/west traffic. Essentially it seems that the cycles are static, rather than dynamically based on the presence or absence of traffic over the in-ground sensor. What is most frustrating is to be staring at a red light for 60-90 seconds with little to no traffic in the other direction - inefficient in both time and energy consumption.

Not sure why this intersection seems to be so problematic, as the timing at other intersections in Needham seems well programmed, such as May at Highland, Webster at High/West St, and most notably Highland at Hunting.

I hope this is resolved soon.

Thanks for following up legelis, really appreciate the thoroughness of your research. It's pretty interesting that these lights are so inefficient given all of the time/money invested in that area (highway onramps/exits, bridge construction).

This should be interesting. I can't wait to hear what the Town's traffic engineers have to say about it.

One week later; nothing yet, apparently.

I've just reached out to Thomas Ryder, the Asst Town Engineer, as mentioned on 3/15.(http://www.needhamma.gov/index.aspx?NID=236). Looking forward to his response.

Likewise.

These signals are within MassDOT’s work zone; and they have been adjusting the signal timing during the phases of their project to match with the changing traffic patterns. Please be advised that we are continuing to work with MassDOT on the monitoring and adjusting these traffic lights. I expect that there will be more changes to the timing as the additional ramps are opened to traffic and the project comes to a close. As an additional note, the signal timing is suppose to match with the signals at the new ramps at Kendrick Street.

Our traffic engineer went out yesterday morning to check the signals and he has confirmed the queuing issue still exists caused by the timing along the Greendale and Hunting drive. Together with his information and the reported timing provided by jlegis, proved to be helpful in my discussion this morning with MassDOT.

MassDOT's traffic engineers consultant will be out to review the timing and make recommendations. I expect that they will be reviewing the lights Friday or early next week.

Mr Assistant Town Engineer - Would you please comment on the status of this issue? As of last week there has been no change in the timing of the lights, while the north/south traffic is continually subjected to ill timed signals. Please advise.

A couple weeks ago the consultant traffic engineer for MDOT completed their observations. They made a few timing changes to the signal at Hunting Street in order to better accommodate the northbound traffic demand during the morning peak period. Based on their observations, the queues on the northbound approach extended up to Paul Revere Road with vehicles taking more than one cycle to go through the intersection. After the timing changes were implemented, they report queues were a bit shorter and vehicles were able to negotiate the intersection within one or two cycles.
I will have the town's traffic engineer review to see if we notice any changes that MDOT was hoping they would accomplish.

This intersection is under Mass DOT jurisdiction. The State and the Town continue to monitor these areas and coordinate about on-going concerns. Thank you!

In my humble opinion, the issue was solved for a while...but has recently regressed/caused long delays on Hunting Rd. It is especially frustrating when there are no cars crossing on Kendrick St, yet cars on Hunting Rd sit at a red light for minutes.

Not sure what changed recently, but it has gone from bad to good to bad again.