Prior to all the contruction on both gates, Gate 1 used to be the 24 hour gate. Wonder why they haven't gone back to that since the construction is done?
I beleive one reason is the county commisioners lobbied for Gate 2 since it's the "heart of the lexington park district". But prior to the last go round, I thnk they had made the announcement that gate 2 was the MAIN gate (see that pretty sign).
It doesn't make sense to the people who have to go thru it or around it, but that's the way it is (which is why I said he should complain to the county and NDW).
Also, he's only complaining about the left turners. FWIW, there are probably as many cars coming across GMR that get hung up when the light changes.
People can only go by what they see; lights green, traffic is moving. The don't know when it will stop and how far back they will be. They also don't know how much time is left on the light. I've seen plenty of well meaning people let cars turn right in front of them - not thinking that the people behind them (who thought the road was clear) are now stuck out in the intersection.
The answer is to have more room for the traffic to go to or shorten the light so few cars get thru. The later would just push the problem further down each road so the only alternative is to get cars away from the interection. The new ID check hasn't helped, it's only slowed it up.
Oh, and don't count on any improvements on the base side. It would take years just to get the money to do a study and design the changes.
Get use to it until the next BRAC then you can tell Steny you want the congestion gone - Ridgecrest would welcome the jobs.