The FL Dept. of Transportation, Fort Myers, and Lee County are committed to working hard for our safety, and have implemented Target Zero Fatalities & Serious Injuries. The initiative’s goal is to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries. Achieving this goal involves several challenges, including managing traffic flow. They focus on safe driving, while managing increased traffic flow in Fort Myers, the fastest growing city in the country in 2024.
Our own community has had a front row seat and experienced several examples of their efforts. We now have a roundabout at the corner of Challenger and Winkler (Fort Myers project), and a Continuous Flow Intersection or CFI, including a Diverging Diamond Interchange on Colonial, at I-75 and Six Mile Cypress/Ortiz (FDOT project).
Another tool they’ll be using more in the future, is the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA). The Flashing Yellow Arrow has been around for eight to ten years, including a testing phase. The tests have shown that this type of display is more intuitive for drivers. It’s been shown to reduce left turn angle crashes. FYA helps with traffic flow for those who are waiting to make a left-hand turn. Most intersections currently use a three or five section traffic light for the left turn lane. A Four Ball Head/Traffic Light will easily identify the FYA. The traffic light can hang vertically or horizontally, contingent on the intersection. (See the diagram for ball order and instructions.)
I had a nice conversation with Bruce Littleton, Lee County Traffic Engineer, regarding the criteria for determining which intersection qualifies for a traffic signal, such as the one being requested for Six Mile Cypress and Winkler. Bruce, who has over 50 years’ experience as a Traffic Engineer, responded, “It’s a long and arduous process in determining which intersection will receive a new traffic signal. Why do you ask?”
They must first determine which authority the intersection falls under, Ft. Myers or Lee County. They then look at budget restrictions, traffic studies, and if the intersection is part of a county improvement. The cost for installing one of these lights is $1.2 to 1.5 million. Bruce said he remembers when the cost of a light ran between $40,000 and $50,000 dollars! When appropriate, FYA’s are part of the standard design for new intersections, provided the criteria to use them is met. Much of the same process is followed when determining if an existing signal gets its left turn lanes upgraded to using the FYA displays. In this case, the cost can be significantly less if the intersection signal equipment uses relatively current technology. In these cases, the conversion can be less than $3,000, an approach that meets the criteria to be converted to FYAs.
The Different Types of Left Turn Signals
There are three basic types of left turn signals: a permissive left turn signal, where you wait for a gap in the opposing traffic and turn left on the green ball; the protected-permissive left turn signal where you can get a left turn arrow that lets you turn left without conflicting traffic, and a portion of time where you can turn left if there is a sufficient gap in opposing traffic; and finally the protected left turn signal where you can only turn left on the green arrow.
Below are illustrations of typical signal head displays that have been traditionally displayed.
What the left turn driver will see in a typical sequence:
• The red arrow will indicate that the driver must wait for the signal to change, as the red arrow means stop and wait for the light to change, just like the red light to go straight.
• The red arrow can end with either a green arrow or a flashing yellow arrow.
• On a green arrow the driver can turn left as there will be no opposing traffic.
• The green arrow will end with the steady yellow arrow followed by a red arrow.
• If a permissive left turn will be allowed, the signal will go to the flashing yellow indication, letting the driver know they can make their left turn cautiously, as long as they yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians in the crosswalk which they will be crossing they enter the side street.
• The signal can also go directly to the flashing yellow arrow from a red arrow.
• The same rules apply to turn left as stated above for the FYA. A flashing yellow arrow will end with a steady yellow before returning to the red arrow condition.
Travel safe!
