A pair of traffic signals in St. Petersburg are causing big problems for drivers.

Once the dust cleared on construction along 4th Street North at Gandy Boulevard, drivers like Kim Conner were thrilled.

"The traffic flow has really sped up now," she said. "It goes through really nicely. I don't have any problems, I get home 15 minutes faster it seems like."

The new Gandy Boulevard overpass takes through traffic over the intersection. But now, Frontage Road traffic on the north and south side of the overpass has to navigate a series of traffic signals.

And two of them seem to be causing a problem.

"The first one you actually see is up on the overpass and that's actually for the people up ahead of you," Conner said. "And it turns green at the same time the side street gets a green."

Sound confusing? It is for some drivers.


Some drivers are mistakenly pulling into cross traffic.

The way the lights cycle, southbound traffic on 4th Street sees both signals turn red at the same time.

Drivers at the front of the line, looking down the road are likely to focus on the far signal first. As it turns green, they hit the gas and the second signal turns green so westbound Frontage Road drivers can clear the intersection as they make the turn onto 4th Street.

The light right in front of drivers stays red.

An inattentive driver starts to go, right into cross traffic.

"I've been down that street four times this week. I've seen it happen twice."

As to what the state can do about it, there’s not a lot. The state did send information to Real Time Traffic Expert Chuck Henson saying it would look into the possibility of moving the stop bar back for the signals on the north side of this intersection.

This would give the drivers better visibility of the signal head designated for their movement.