If you’re been driving around Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley this week, you may have noticed some changes to a few traffic signals. Managing editor Tami Roleff talked with CalTrans and explains what the changes are, and why they’re being made…
This week I noticed that the traffic signals at Highway 62 and Camino del Cielo suddenly POPPED out at me. Each signal box was surrounded by a reflective bright yellow frame, which CalTrans calls a backplate with retro-reflective borders. The backplates are being installed at several intersections on Highway 62: Camino del Cielo, Acoma/Mohawk Trail, Avalon, and the Home Depot Driveway, and on Highway 247 at Buena Vista in Yucca Valley. In Morongo Valley, they are at Highway 62 and Senilis and at Bella Vista. A Caltrans spokeswoman said the bright yellow backplates are to make the signals more visible during power shut offs and are installed in locations where the signal is the first light approaching an urban area; or a signal with limited visibility at the signal or if the speed is 50 miles per hour or greater; or if it’s an isolated signal on a highway in a rural area. The project also includes pavement markings indicating “signal ahead.” The $4 million projects covers 96 intersections in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
