By KERI CHAMPION

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE- The traffic problems associated with the new turn light at the Raising Cane’s should soon dissipate.

Allen Dale, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Highway Department said, &#8220Engineers have already been to the site and made some needed adjustments to the light cycles in the area.”

&#8220The problem was that the light on Main and Hwy. 44 was not communicating directly with the lights at the intersection of Main and Airline, causing a traffic pile-up in the area,” Dale said.

According to Dale, the engineers went out Monday after observing traffic for a time to determine the problem, however, they have not yet been to the site during the peak 5 p.m. traffic hour.

&#8220We plan to have a team of engineers go out within the next week or so during peak hours to determine what other adjustments are needed for traffic to run smoothly,” he said.

The addition of the turn signal has led to many residents complaining of high volume and back-ups in recent weeks.

&#8220During peak hours the projected volume of cars in the turn lane is 29 vehicles per hour, or one every other minute,” Dale said.

The projections came from a preliminary study of the intersection, and have not had enough time to be accurately measured yet.

&#8220Engineers are looking into adjusting the times of other lights at close intersections to verify that the timing of all the lights are in sync with the new light. We will probably adjust some intersections slightly within the next week or two,” he said.

Dale also mentioned that the two lanes in Raising Cane’s allow for a left-hand turn in the left lane and both a right turn and straight approach to Hwy. 51 from the parking lot. He cautioned that people going down Airline should yield to vehicles attempting to cross the intersection to 51.

&#8220It may not be directly aligned, but people should be able to cross without too many complications,” he said,