NILES, Ohio (WKBN) — Adjustments to a traffic signal in Niles aim to improve traffic flow amid recent noticeable backups at an intersection in the city during a ramp closure for the diverging diamond interchange project.
Traffic now moves smoothly on North Road through the intersection of U.S. Route 422, but it hasn’t always been the case since the Ohio Department of Transportation closed the East Market Street Ramp to eastbound state Route 82.
Niles police traffic Officer Shawn Crank says the traffic backup in the North Road turning lane was noticeable.
“Obviously, that traffic was coming out of Warren and going to our shopping areas on [routes] 46 and 422 there at the mall,” Crank said. “In order to make it easier for them, a little more efficiently flowing, we added five seconds to the left-turn lane.”
Crank said by adding just five seconds to the turn signal, an additional five or six cars can make it through the intersection per cycle.
“That’s about as much as we can add to that at this point because when you take time, add time to a certain lane, it takes away time from all other four legs of the intersection,” Crank said.
Time was added to the arrow just last week.
In addition, the light on Route 422 near Hot Dog Allie was put into flashing mode. Crank said there’s already been a big improvement.
“As we approach the busy shopping season, the Christmas season, we’ll reevaluate the area and see if we need to add or subtract from different lanes, and we’ll adjust accordingly,” Crank said.
