Ignore this Sign... Please! A page about bad traffic signs in Arlington.

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[Mystic Valley Parkway] [Westminster Avenue] [Mystic & Ridge] [Mystic & Summer]
[Acton Street & Appleton Place] [Signal Maintenance: Irving & Pleasant] [Crosswalks: Gray & Quincy]

 

·	Once upon a time, if you were to obey this sign on Mystic Valley Parkway and keep right, you would have landed in a guardrail. (This sign was fixed by the MDC, October, 1998)

According to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) the Keep Right Sign  "should be used at the ends of medians, parkways, loading islands, and refuge islands, at traffic islands, and at underpass piers, where traffic is required to keep to the right" (MUTCD, section 2B-25). This sign in this place should be a warning sign for the divided highway  (MUTCD, section 2C-23), or for the yield at the upcoming rotary  (MUTCD, section 2C-16).

 

Within three days of the publication of Robin Washington's article in the Boston Herald on October 12, 1998, the MDC removed the sign on Mystic Valley Parkway and erected a Keep Right sign in the center divider at the rotary.

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[Mystic Valley Parkway] [Westminster Avenue] [Mystic & Ridge] [Mystic & Summer]
[Acton Street & Appleton Place] [Signal Maintenance: Irving & Pleasant] [Crosswalks: Gray & Quincy]

 

·	Here's a very dangerous situation on Westminster Avenue.

This Chevron Alignment Sign (W1-8)  is to be "erected on the outside of a sharp curve, sharp turn, or on the far side of an intersection, in line with and at right angles to approaching traffic" (MUTCD, section 2C-10)  Motorists guided by this sign will drive into a solid stone wall.  This sign should be moved across the street and in line with traffic, and the curve sign  should be here.

·	Or expect a head on collision here on US 3 - Mystic Street, if someone believes this is a center island and keeps to the right of this sign...

...and ends up just keeping far enough to the right to be facing oncoming traffic.  Again, this sign  belongs on a center island or median, not here. The appropriate sign would be the Chevron Alignment Sign  or the Large Arrow Sign .  If the intent is to prevent traffic from entering the roadway from Ridge Street, the Do Not Enter sign (MUTCD, section 2B-26) should be used.

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[Mystic Valley Parkway] [Westminster Avenue] [Mystic & Ridge] [Mystic & Summer]
[Acton Street & Appleton Place] [Signal Maintenance: Irving & Pleasant] [Crosswalks: Gray & Quincy]

BEFORE: Mystic and Summer Streets in 1998

Signals and signs that do not conform to Federal standards create a dangerous condition for drivers from out of town. In this 1998 photo, the island between the right turn lane and the through lane (1) is a Keep -> Right sign.  (This town has a problem with Keep Right signs.)  The sign that should be in that divider is  the Double Arrow Sign, which  "is intended for use at loading and refuge islands, traffic islands with curbs, and other obstructions in the roadway, where traffic is permitted to pass on either side of the island or obstruction (MUTCD, section 2C-33).

The real dangerous feature of this intersection was a green right arrow for eastbound Summer Street (2), which is on even when the Summer Street light is red and southbound Mystic Street (US 3) has a green light.  This is a violation of MUTCD (section 4B-6, paragraph 6 (a)) which states, "A steady GREEN ARROW indication shall be used only to allow vehicular movements which are completely protected from conflict with other vehicles moving on a green or yellow indication or with pedestrians crossing in conformance with a WALK or flashing DONT WALK indication." 

Three years after this website caught the attention of The Boston Herald and WBZ-TV, and a new Town Manager and a new Director of Police Services (Arlington-speak for chief of police), this intersection was fixed in 2001, the same year the signal at Mystic, Pleasant, and Massachusetts Avenue was fixed. The green right arrow (2) is gone (the right signal has been wired to go red and green to match the signal for through traffic) and a sign that more accurately describes the traffic island (1) is now in place.

AFTER: Mystic and Summer Streets in 2001

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[Mystic Valley Parkway] [Westminster Avenue] [Mystic & Ridge] [Mystic & Summer]
[Acton Street & Appleton Place] [Signal Maintenance: Irving & Pleasant] [Crosswalks: Gray & Quincy]

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Federal Highway Administration - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
The standards for traffic control devices in the United States.