There Goes the Neighborhood

The intersection by our house has been torn up since the beginning of the year. It's inconvenienced over a thousand residents who use the street as their main exit from Foster City.

The project didn't seem to be abnormally difficult. Ours is one of four intersections where traffic lights have been scheduled to be installed since 2018. I spoke to one of the workers before work started. He said the delay was caused by a shortage of electricians.

Even when the lights start operation (at the red arrow in the diagram), traffic will be slow. The green-arrowed intersection already has lights; located at the latter's four corners are an elementary school, an apartment building, a shopping center, and a pre-school. Two lights one block apart are a most unusual configuration for a sleepy suburb.

Some drivers will choose to cut through the shopping center, where they can avoid both lights on certain commonly traveled routes. Then the shopping center will put up "patrons only" signs at the entrance points. There goes the neighborhood.