Mass Ave And Swan Place In Arlington To Get Normal Traffic Signal

ARLINGTON, MA — It's happening. After much talk about the intersection at Swan Place and Mass Ave and just how the traffic signal is supposed to work there, the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon at Mass Ave. and Swan Place will be reconfigured to a standard traffic signal in early December.

If you'd traveled anywhere near Mass Ave and Swan Place since the traffic signal was put up to improve safety as the bike path skips over Mass Ave and continues a couple blocks down on the other side of the road, you might have seen the double red flashing lights at the intersection and the green paint on the ground.

Despite a video explaining how the signal worked, many folks just felt confused by it. They took to social media and they spoke up about their feelings to Town Hall.

Now, several months later based on "observations and comments received by the public" additional design modifications are being made to the intersection - the Arlington Center Safe Travel Project.

The most visible change will be to reconfigure the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon at Mass Ave. & Swan Place and change it to a standard traffic signal to reduce confusion at the crossing.

There will also be pedestrian signals for the Swan Place Crossing, an additional bike traffic signal to improve connectivity of the bike path.

There will be audio instructions from the pedestrian system to indicate additional crossing info to folks who have low visibility and there will be arrows on the pavement to indicate which direction bikes should be traveling on the bike lanes.

The signal timing is slated for an upgrade between the intersections.

Look for crews to start work on Nov. 27. The changes to the traffic signal should take place the first week in December.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/ Patch