The new East Washington Street interchange was officially opened last week, making it easier and safer for northbound traffic to exit and enter Highway 101, but two Road Warrior readers say the work isn’t quite done. Both asked about timing of the traffic signal at Washington and McDowell Boulevard. (Read our post about the new interchange here.)

Question: The north bound lane opening does nothing to stop the congestion at the intersection of Washington and McDowell. Every day, the left-turn lane from McDowell onto Washington towards the freeway blocks on coming traffic going south on McDowell. My question is when are they going to fix the timing on the lights? I see this problem all day long, and it is dangerous to pedestrians as well as drivers. – Donna

“G” agrees with Donna, the traffic lights at this intersection are way off timing. “They make no sense when there is a line of 10+ vehicles waiting to turn left and only 2 or 3 allowed because of the quick light change,” he writes.

The answer comes from Curt Bates, Petaluma’s city engineer, who said this is the first time he has heard of traffic backing up at that intersection. His department is not aware of any problems there, but they will look into it. The city implemented coordinated signal timing at the intersection earlier this year, with different signal time plans at different times of day.

For traffic complaints of any kind, readers can contact Petaluma Public Works at 778-4303.

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