Looky here at this map, and you will see a nexus where Nixon Road runs north/south, and Green Road and Dhu Varren Road run into Nixon with a slight offset. Believe it or not, this is NOT two separate tee intersections: it is a single four-way-stop intersection (switch to satellite view, and you can see more clearly how close/far the roads are). As you might expect from this bizarre geometry, traffic through-put is miserable, and there is much confusion about right of way, owing in large part to the fact that it takes so long for any single car to clear the intersection.
This week a major construction project kicked off on Pontiac Trail, a major north-south thoroughfare about a mile west of this. With the closure of that road, all of its traffic is being detoured onto Nixon, through the miserable intersection I just described. To help improve traffic flow, the city has temporarily ripped out the stop signs on Nixon Road, which effectively does turn this into two independent tee intersections. Want to get from Green to Dhu Varren? Here’s what you’re supposed to do now:
- pull up to the stop sign, signal for a right turn.
- when northbound traffic on Nixon has cleared, turn right onto Nixon.
- travel 15 feet north on Nixon, signal for a left turn.
- When southbound traffic on Nixon has cleared, turn left onto Dhu Varren.
Same thing in reverse for getting from Dhu Varren to Green.
That’s how it’s supposed to work for the next five months or so. There are flashing signs and flags on Green and Dhu Varren warning people of the new traffic pattern: “NIXON ROAD DOES NOT STOP”. There are also signs on Nixon telling those drivers that they no longer have to stop (but should be careful nonetheless).
So what’s the problem?
People who have driven through this intersection for years continue to treat it as a four way stop. There are no stop signs on Nixon anymore - they’ve been physically removed and placed into storage - but drivers are continuing to stop there. I came through yesterday afternoon and this morning, making the exact crossings I described above, and in my efforts to be a good citizen, I tried to yield right of way to oncoming traffic from Nixon, but it was impossible: every single car on Nixon stopped, and when they thought it was my “turn”, they waited until I had to go.
As annoying as this is, it’s actually an interesting instance of social proof. With the stop signs gone and all sorts of unusual warning signs in place, there’s a ton of uncertainty as drivers approach the intersection. Not sure what to do? Well, the guy in front of you has stopped, so I guess it must be that you’re supposed to stop too, even though there’s no goddam stop sign.
Possibly making matters worse was the cop in his squad car parked on the grass at the southest corner. Rather than being out there ushering Nixon traffic through, I think he was just there to quickly pick up the pieces from the inevitable crash, or stop the fistfight that was sure to come up when someone violated someone else’s right-of-way after waiting 15 minutes to get to the intersection (remember, traffic through there is now pretty much doubled). But his visible presence probably led a lot of people to believe that they were sure to get a ticket if they blew through the phantom stop sign without stopping.
Yep…gonna be a fun five months. Hopefully people driving on Nixon will get the idea soon, and throughput will go up. Until then, passing through that intersection will be a painful experience for everyone.
