Santa Clarita residents are seeing a marked improvement in traffic circulation, according to the city’s 2020 public opinion poll.

While the same poll in 2018 saw traffic congestion as the number one concern as reported by residents with 37% placing it in the top spot, in 2020, only 16% of residents reported that traffic congestion was the number one concern.

At the same time, the city continues to implement traffic circulation enhancements to reduce congestion on city streets and increase driver and pedestrian safety.

Since 2018, the city has installed electronic blank-out signs at high volume intersections to alert approaching drivers of pedestrians and cyclists in crosswalks, coinciding with a more than 16 percent decrease in collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists over that time period.

The city received an award for its integration of electronic blank-out signs from the Southern California chapter of the American Public Works Association in 2018.

Taking a data-driven approach after analyzing metrics that include vehicle volume, average speeds and total collisions, the city’s traffic engineers identify intersections most in need of physical improvements and signal modifications.

To enhance student safety in 2019, the city implemented a “pedestrian scramble” phase at Seco Canyon Road and Decoro Drive during school hours, modifying the traffic signal to allow for all pedestrians to cross at once.

In addition to improving safety, the scramble enhanced traffic circulation by increasing the number of vehicles able to go through the intersection without waiting for a high volume of pedestrians to clear the crosswalk during a green light.

Most recently, the city adjusted the traffic signal at the intersection of Lyons Avenue and Apple Street in Newhall to provide protected left-turn lanes in the eastbound and westbound directions. Over the last several years, the intersection had averaged four broadside collisions per year.

As space limitations prevented the existing left-turn pockets from accommodating protected left-turn traffic, city staff modified the signal phasing with a creative timing sequence that gives protected left-turn traffic two green lights in the same sequence as needed, depending on traffic volume. This allows for more vehicles to be flushed out of the left-turn lane, reducing traffic queues and spillover into through lanes that cause congestion and safety risks.

To learn more about the Santa Clarita’s traffic circulation projects to reduce congestion and to share any particular concerns about traffic congestion, contact Traffic Signal System Administrator Cesar Romo at 661-286-4002 or cromo@santa-clarita.com.