MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The traffic light at Miami Gardens Drive and West Dixie Highway has drivers frustrated.
"They're always messed up," said Anita Givner. "There's always a traffic jam at this time."
Drivers say that during rush hour, they only have a few seconds to cross West Dixie Highway, which leads to backups and bad driving. Local 10's cameras captured drivers on Miami Gardens Drive having three minutes and 37 seconds to pass through the intersection, but drivers on West Dixie Highway only had 42 seconds.
The timing of the intersection is based on Miami-Dade County's interconnected system that's designed to move as many vehicles as possible. It was one of the first in the country to be implemented.
Frank Aire with the Miami-Dade's traffic signals & signs department also said the timing of intersection causes a safety issue for pedestrians trying to cross.
"It's a special little dance," he said. "It's a matter of moving people."
But Aire said the system requires some drivers to move at a slower rate so that the majority can move at a faster rate.
"Second here, second there. You try to move people as best as you can," he said.
Despite saying that 30 seconds at a traffic light is a lot of time, Aire said the county would revisit the timing of the intersection, which was last checked more than a year ago. Back then, it was determined that U.S. 1 and nearby train tracks made the intersection's current timing the best possible pattern.
"Whenever we see a problem or patterns have changed, we try to go back to see if modifications can be done so that traffic moves better," he said.
The county asked that drivers who want to report problems like this one call 311.
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