Why is there no traffic light at the corner of Stateside Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard?

Predictably, many will point out that there are already too many lights interrupting traffic flow on this busy road that is both a state highway and an important local street.

Raleigh Mann

Raleigh Mann

Someone in the know once told me that the State Department of Transportation would consider putting a light at Stateside Drive if we who want one would agree to raise the speed limit on MLK from 35 to 45 miles per hour.

Is he kidding? Anyone driving 35 on that road is likely to get run over by everyone else, who all are driving much faster. This is the same D.O.T. that promised us a 24-foot-wide median when MLK was widened to four lanes. That would have provided a safe haven at midpoint for drivers attempting to turn left onto MLK. That wide median never happened.

Neither, I predict, will that traffic light, as badly as it is needed. Nearly 300 families living in the North Forest Hills area need to get onto this busy boulevard on a regular basis. And we who live near the corner will continue to hear the screech-thump of those who dare take their lives in their hands trying to turn left and join the speeding traffic.

 

— Raleigh Mann

 

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