Century Engineering recommends removal of signal at Marshall Street

Century Engineering recommended to DelDOT that the traffic light at Marshall and Second Street remain an all-way stop

After conducting a traffic engineering study at the intersection of Marshall Street and Southeast Second Street, Century Engineering recommended to DelDOT that a traffic signal be removed and replaced with an all-way stop. According to BJ Song, Traffic Analysis Manager with Century Engineering, the two year study revealed no degradation in traffic operation with the change.

“Based on traffic volume and crash data, this traffic signal was actually operating so quickly, they’re functionally classified as a major factor,” Traffic moves at 25 miles an hour, and both streets serve a similar volume, with Second Street at just under 3,500 vehicles per day, and Marshall Street just above 3000 vehicles.”

According to Song, the delay using the existing traffic signal was around 10 seconds in the morning, 8 seconds midday and just over 8 seconds in the evening. With the switch to the all-way stop, the delay increased to 11 seconds in the morning, just over 8 seconds midday and almost 9 seconds in the evening.

“After the switch to the all-way configuration, the intersection actually operated at a level of service A, which is the best case scenario, except during the morning of conversion,” Song said. “That morning, there were some issues which we attributed driver confusion immediately following the traffic control device changes and we had a pretty good sized rainstorm go through. Very quickly, the intersection operation improved as drivers got used to the changes.”

As for accident data, six months prior to the conversion, there was one crash where a driver hit a fixed object while making an improper turn. Six months after the conversion, there was another similar accident where a driver hit a fixed object due to inattentive driving. A second crash was an angle crash attributed to a driver not yielding the right-of-way.

“Angle crashes are what we try to avoid so we had to do some additional investigation,” Song said. “I actually read witness statements, and it turns out the driver accelerated into another vehicle that was already in the intersection, so this was not related to the signal removal. We did not find a repeated crash patterns or trends after the signal was removed.”

The signal will be removed by DelDOT using the same methods as the removal of the signals at Causey Avenue and Southwest Front Street, Song explained. Song also pointed out some heavy ponding on the roadway at the Marshall Street intersection right after the removal of the signal, suggesting to council that they look at drainage in the area.