Lavon Traffic lights waste precious fuel

[wolddj]

Why doesn't Lavon do something about the traffic lights on highway 78. Morning and evening rush hours are bottlenecked at 78 and 205 for no logical reason except to allowed the minimal traffic on 205 to have the right of way. In the mornings it takes approximately 7 minutes to travel 1 mile. That's just over 8 miles an hour in a 60 mile an hour zone. I've timed it. In the evenings it takes nearly 20 minutes to get out of Wylie. This is rediculous. Forcing cars to sit idle that long wastes fuel and at $3.00+ a gallon it represents an expensive waste. Lavon needs to either get rid of the light or time it so that the majority of the traffic benefits from it. By the way, there's nothing like sitting in traffic just over the top of the bridge and hearing the vehicles skidding behind you because the backup is to just below the old railroad bridge and traffic behind didn't see the backup until almost too late.

[The Admin]

They are suppose to widen 78 to 205 out of Wylie, so I've heard. However, I haven't heard anything recent about this, so who knows if that will ever happen. What is even worse is when there is a wreck and they shut down 78. Then your essentially stuck as there is no other quick way to get to this area without going WAY out of your way. The one time I got stuck on the highway, I was hoping they would temporarily open the damn to let people around the wreck, but that never happened. We all sat there for over an hour until CareFlight could land. My other pet peeve is, how many people have to die on 78 before they slow it down through Lavon. There have been numerous fatalities out here and I've lost track of the number of wrecks a long time ago. The word from TXDOT is, essentially not enough people have died to warrant a decrease in the speed limit. But yet, if you turn on 205, the speed limit 45mph for about a mile, for what reason, there is nothing there, yet you can go 60 thru a town!? Ok, I'll step off my soap box now 

[kcraft]

I will be moving to Lavon in a few weeks. I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing 78's rush-hour traffic yet, but I definitely hope there are plans to either expand 78 or build an alternate route. It would also be nice if the 205 traffic light could be removed somehow (i.e. by building a small mix-master).

I'm looking forward to moving away from the city, but it would be nice if doing so didn't cost me 2 hours a day in commute time. A straight drive with no traffic already takes 30 minutes. 

What time does the traffic start to settle down in the evening?

[Curt]

6:30...ish.

The Lavon Newsletter that just came out had a little about the widening project that is still in the "development" stage.  I believe it said there were to start in 2010.

Well I just looked it up.  I guess I gave them too much credit.  The project is still unfunded and "MAY" start in the next 3-5 years!  Haha.

http://www.cityoflavon.org/user/Newsletter%20Summer%202007.pdf  PDF for those that dont get Lavon mail.

[The Admin]

The newsletter was a bit depressing this time around as everthing is delayed for quite a while the way it sounds. I'll update the link on the frontpage for the news letter as well.

[LavonVoice]

Unfortunately the traffic lights are controlled and operated by TXDOT and the City of Lavon does not have control over them.
I will add this though, there is a lock box on the traffic control switchboard that allows Police to control the light manually which could help out in some instances.

[wolddj]

Perhaps Lavon could get their police to operate the lights in the morning and evening instaed of sitting out on the edge of town running radar.