Diverging Diamond makes its debut

Posted at: 09/11/2012 5:01 PM | Updated at: 09/11/2012 6:23 PM
By: Ray Levato | WHEC.com

The Diverging Diamond made its debut in Brighton Wednesday. The Diverging Diamond is a new traffic design and the first of its kind in the entire state. 

News10NBC did a ride-a-long with Brighton Supervisor Bill Moehle as he was about to take his first trip through the Diverging Diamond at South Winton Road and I-390. 

Moehle said, “And yeah, I think everybody when they're first presented with it, it's not necessarily intuitive. It involves driving the left side of the road. That gets your attention.” 

A few minutes later, News10NBC arrived at a maze of orange barrels. 

Moehle said, “The light's turned green and we're moving through, crossing into the left lane. Well, it's relatively light traffic and we came through pretty easily.” 

Moehle turned around at the Jewish Home and went back through in the other direction. No problem.

Moehle said, “We've just made it through. That time we didn't have to stop at either light at either end.” 

Back at town hall, Moehle said new overhead signs and concrete traffic islands to be built this weekend will help drivers see the new lane configuration. 

Moehle said, “One of the things the islands will do is they are contoured to provide one more visual cue for the motorists to get them going in the right direction. And I'm optimistic that it will work well.” 

News10NBC asked motorists what they thought of weaving over to the left side of the road. 

Mia Howard said, “I think it's fine if it's going to avoid traffic backups, accidents, so I think it will work out well. We've got to give it a try.”

Sandy Marafioti said, “I'm just trying to check out how the lanes go and the impact it has on traffic. I thought there'd be more done today quite honestly but this is interesting.”

Lori Maher, NYSDOT Spokeswoman, said, “Everything's been going really smoothly since this morning. We've not seen any crashes. We've not seen a lot of confusion or chaos by any means. So we're thrilled with that.”

The South Winton and I-390 interchange will close down this Friday night at 9:00pm for the entire weekend. This is so crews can start building the raised traffic islands that will also help drivers maneuver through. There will be detours on South Winton Road until Monday morning.

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