Keeping Williston Traffic Moving | Video

Chris Williams | 11/29/2012

With some of the busiest roads in oil country, having a good flow of traffic helps things run smoothly. Traffic lights play a big part in keeping everything under control.

There are 18 of them in Williston. Most have been updated within the past year, but the lights that haven`t are causing some problems. It`s simple, green means go, red means stop, but recently some of the lights in Williston have been doing this.

"There`s a lot of them in town, I mean this one goes out probably about five times a day," said Williston driver Ryan Tucker.

Traffic maintenance worker Neil Bakken says you can never tell when the lights will go out, until they do.

"Most of the ones that we`ve been having trouble with now we`re put in in 87, so 25 years. They were obsolete six months after they were put in."

Replacing the systems that run the lights is costly. One controller costs $10,000, but replacing outdated equipment will help the lights work properly.

"For next year’s budget now we do have money put in there to replace a lot of this stuff," Bakken added.

Until then the lights will continue to go out, and with 28,000 vehicles traveling in Williston each day that can create some chaos.

"What I have noticed is people getting somewhat confused because it`s a circumstance they`re just not confronted with on a regular basis," said Williston PD Duty Supervisor Lt. David Belisle.

If the lights are blinking there are laws saying who has the right of way.

"The driver, operator, has an obligation to yield right of way to the vehicle going north and south that is continuing through the intersection with the yellow blinking light," Belisle added.

But, not everyone is following those rules, when they are on the road, especially on the bypass.

"There`s nobody being courteous. They`re coming through there, granted every body`s got a place to go, they just see the yellow flashing light and they treat it as a green," added Bakken.

Something that Tucker and other drivers will have to deal with until new lights can be installed.

"It`s annoying just because I see so many people running it all the time, people don`t know how to drive. People don`t know what yield is," Tucker added.

The state will helping with the cost of the new traffic lights.

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