I don’t remember the year, but there was a time when the four traffic signals that border both sides of Highway 18 where it crosses Kent-Kangley (SE 272nd street or SR516) were the focus of much criticism. 

In earlier posts I described the deadly intersection where Highway 18 crossed Kent-Kangley.  There was one blinking signal.  Red for those on Kent-Kangley, yellow for those travelling on Highway 18.  When improvements began to be made to Highway 18 and Kent-Kangley, signals were installed to control flow on and off of the highway and also onto 164th street by the Covington library.  All of these had to be synchronized to control flow in a smooth and non-congestive fashion.

When those signals were installed what criticism was heard around town!  Bumper stickers declaring ‘who in the world put four signals in a row in Covington’ were seen on many cars.  People discussed the ludicrous nature of such a move.  Comments were made that this was ridiculous and would never work.  I was young, but even so I thought it was a goofy idea to a point.  My biggest intrigue though was how would they sync such a complicated signal array.

Well, it worked.  In fact, it works well.  Everyone gets their turn.  It doesn’t back up too much.  And traffic flows.  Of course, since then other signals have been added within several hundred feet either side of these original four signals.  But I guess people get so used to seeing groups of signals at intersections such as this that when the other signals were added no one though twice about the need for more light control.  Maybe some day other signals will be installed as Covington continues to grow.