TO:              Mayor William F. Martin, Jr.

                             And

                   Members of the Lowell City Council

FROM:        Bernard F. Lynch, City Manager

DATE:         March 2, 2007

RE:              Council Motion of 2/13/07 by Councillor Milinazzo

“Request the City Manager have the traffic Engineer address the timing of the traffic lights at the intersection of Andover Street and High Street.”

Regarding the above mentioned motion, I have been in contact with Jeff Gomes, Transportation Engineer.  Jeff stated that he investigated the intersection in question Andover Street (Route 110 and High Street) and made some conclusions.  Andover Street as well as High Street runs on loop detectors, which are used to tell the signal that a vehicle is present.  There needs to be consistent vehicle presence over the loop detector for the signal to stay green for those vehicles.  A large gap in traffic usually caused by a truck or bus can cause the green signal to gap out early (turn yellow then red).  Currently the High Street gap out is not working properly, causing its timing to serve the maximum time, even if there are no vehicles present.  The City Electrician identified a broken loop.

Therefore, the Transportation Engineer will work with the City Electrician to correct the problem in the spring months when work can be scheduled.  Street opening permits are not issued until March 15^th and work is weather dependent.

If you have any questions regarding this information, please let me know.  Thank you.