Will drivers see the light on Wednesday?

With school having started yesterday, a long line of traffic sat in the early morning hours on Honeycutt Avenue trying to turn onto John Wayne Parkway. Needless to say, turning onto JWP was time consuming.

What has been more time consuming for residents and visitors to Maricopa is actually waiting for a traffic light, that was installed more than a month ago, to become operational.

At a Pinal County transportation summit on Aug. 2, City of Maricopa Transportation Director Brent Billingsley said the sign should be “energized this week.”

Maricopa Police Department Public Information Officer Hal Koozer said the department had also been told the light would be functioning by now. “We’re all getting the same information,” Koozer said. “I know we’ve got some concerned citizens.”

Those concerns may end Wednesday and provide drivers with some peace and comfort turning onto JWP.

Koozer said the department is hearing the light will be functioning as of Wednesday. “We were told that they are just waiting for some buttons, and then it will be operational,” Koozer said.

The long line of traffic forced MPD officers to direct traffic Monday as parents departed the area from dropping off their children.

“It was a mess,” Koozer said, referring to the traffic that had accumulated early Monday morning in the area. “It wasn’t something that we (traffic detail) were planning on doing, but the officers saw an absolute need to do something.”

Police were not out there Tuesday morning to direct traffic.

“I think people are finding back roads,” Koozer added.

Photo by Dave Thomas