Storm knocks out half of county’s traffic lights

Early this week, 131 of Sarasota County’s 243 traffic signals were out after Hurricane Irma passed over the area. By Thursday afternoon, that number was down to zero, and all the lights were operable again, although about 11 were running on generators. 

In the city of Sarasota, 31 lights were out at the height of the storm, out of 92 total. By Thursday, all were working again.

Sarasota County Senior Manager for Transportation Larry Mau said the delay in getting the signals working again was largely due to power outages.

The traffic signal outages contributed to the delay of an “all-clear” for the county. Since Monday, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said there were at least six traffic crashes connected to failed traffic signals.

“Without street lights and signals, it is not safe for driving,” Emergency Management Chief Ed McCrane said.

Drivers were asked to treat all nonfunctioning or blinking signals as a four-way stop. County staff installed stop signs at many of those intersections and were working to get generators for some intersections to power the traffic signals. 

According to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ 2017 Drivers Handbook: “Traffic from all four directions must stop. The first vehicle to reach the intersection should move forward first. If two vehicles reach the intersection at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.”

Additionally, although most of the concern for traffic signals is power, some streetlights were damaged. Mainly, streetlights on span wires instead of metal poles, like the ones at the intersection of South Tamiami Trail and Stickney Point Road, saw some damage. County staff is also working to assess and correct those issues.