There are plenty of intersections where a walk signal comes on automatically, why do some intersections require a button push to initiate the walk signal when it doesn’t seem to make a difference in light timing or duration?
In: Engineering
Different uses for different intersections. The ones where the walk signs come on automatically are generally unmanaged as far as pedestrians go. For reasons regarding the type of vehicle and foot traffic at that intersection, it’s best to just run the normal cycle every time.
For others, you’ll want to change the cycle based on how many cars are in which lanes, or if pedestrians are wanting to cross. For that they have magnetic sensors in the road to track the cars, and the buttons for the pedestrians.
In an extreme example of this, there’s on intersection in my town where the light is always green for north/south traffic unless a pedestrian hits the button.
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