Right on red?

The debate over traffic and traffic flow in Santa Rosa County never ceases to amaze us.

First is the matter of right-on-red at Highway 90 and Avalon Boulevard. The styling of the intersection, as it nears completion, has many confused.

Since the lights have changed, some feel the red arrows mean “no right turn”, but there is not a sign indicating so.

Secondly, with the way the turn is designed, many just roll on through despite the red light because they feel it is a merge lane.

The confusion compounds when we consider all the orange barrels (which seem to grow in number like so many dandelions).

If your car happens to ride low to the ground, the barrels can form a blind spot.  You almost have to drive into the flow of traffic to be able to see.

These are just a few of the matters on Avalon Blvd.

On Highway 90 there are a couple of intersections in need of a yield sign for a left turn-on-green if traffic clear.

One of the suspect intersections is at the entrance to the Santa Rosa County Commissioners’ office building.

Other locations that could benefit from a left-on-green if clear would be along Highway 90 near Wal-Mart, Chili’s, Home Depot, and a couple of others.

Why are some of these questions important?

Santa Rosa County has thousands of cars moving from point A to point B every day. By making some of these changes the flow could be improved.

For some reason, there are locations where little common sense seems to have been used in the placement of signals.

While our leaders want to cry and beg for more money, a few of these suggestions would not only help, but could actually lessen some of the problems.

Avalon Boulevard will never be resolved until all the construction is complete. At that point, we may discover new problems caused by the actual design.

All we can do is hope that the planners have the foresight and wherewithal to plan for every possibility.

It pains us to see the construction has closed some businesses and hurt others.

But while this has happened, traffic issues have improved … at least to some degree.

Overall, they will never get better until the roads and bridges are complete.

Local leaders need to open their eyes to the little things many do not even think about.

By doing this they will put themselves far ahead of their counterparts in Tallahassee and Washington who all too often pass laws with great intentions, but with little explanation.

As the saying goes, the devil is often in the details.

If a simple traffic light can fix many of these woes, then we should do it.

It just takes someone at the county offices to call the state and start the conversation.

Then maybe that drive along Highway 90 will be shortened and some of the rage will quietly fade away.