Residents of the Meadowbrook Woods neighborhood on busy Route 234 near Manassas for many years have wanted a traffic signal at the entrance to their neighborhood.
“Almost since the beginning,” said Janice Valdez, a member of the Meadowbrook Woods Homeowners Association.
However, county and state officials have deemed a traffic signal inappropriate.
Cars turning out of the neighborhood often encounter other vehicles that sit in the median on Route 234. Those drivers are attempting to turn into Meadowbrook Woods.
Drivers turning into the neighborhood can make for dangerous driving conditions as drivers exiting the neighborhood those sitting in the median.
Al Gabrois, a longtime resident of Meadowbrook Woods, said that “coming into the neighborhood, I think the people are desperate to get out so they’ll take the right of way…if I had to make a left everyday out of here to go to work that would be trouble”.
Marc Cioffi, a traffic engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), said the agency hasn’t marked the neighborhood entrance as dangerous. Cioffi added that he has not received one request for a traffic light at that intersection.
“Every request is handled the same way. It doesn’t matter to us if it’s submitted to us by an individual, or a community or hundreds of people, we address each request the same way,” Cioffi said.
After a request for a signal is made, VDOT sends a traffic counter to the intersection who counts all of the cars approaching the intersection.
“We collect the geometric information, the lanes, turning lanes…and then we also review the crash history at an intersection,” said Cioffi.
Cioffi said that peak morning and evening hours outside the Meadowbrook neighborhood and others are the worst for drivers, but it would not be feasible to install signals at every intersection.
VDOT might install a signal if many crashes at an intersection could have been prevented with a traffic light. Angle crashes are a common type of accident that either involves cars that cannot be seen by drivers when pulling out from side streets, or cars that crash while turning.
Crashes such as rear-end bumps or side swipes are not considered crashes that a signal that would be prevented with the installation of a signal light.
The number of crashes needed to justify a signal is around five per year and is based on the volume of that particular area, according to Coffi.
