The Longest Could You Wait at a Traffic Light in St. Cloud

Most people spend a fair amount of time in their lives waiting at traffic lights. Stearns County and St. Cloud Traffic Systems Manager Blake Redfield joined me on WJON. He says the longest you are likely to wait at a traffic light is 3 minutes. Redfield explains the only way a person would wait longer is if there is a pattern change caused by an emergency vehicle coming through the intersection. He says that throws off the pattern and could cause waits to be as long as 4 to 5 minutes.

Redfield explains St. Cloud and Stearns County work with the state of Minnesota to coordinate the lights in this community.  He says the lights he oversees try to run a short cycle length compared to what MN-Dot does overall.  Redfield says a reason for the shorter cycle is because they stack traffic at left turn lanes.  He says the goal is to get all the vehicles through each cycle so they don't have a cycle phase failure.  Redfield indicates it's impossible to always avoid a cycle phase failure but the goal is to do that.

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Redfield indicates they have systems where nearby intersections communicate with each other to coordinate between them.  He says the goal is to move traffic the most efficient way they can.  Redfield explains they are always looking for better ways to accomplish that. He says the lights on Highway 23/Division are coordinated to move traffic through consistently on the Highway.  Redfield indicates some of their intersections run in "free" mode which means they run by themselves moving traffic based on congestion levels.  Traffic lights in town often change how they are coordinated between 10 pm and 5 am because those time periods see less traffic.

The cameras attached to the traffic lights are there to identify traffic levels and adjust accordingly.  He says they do not record any camera data on St. Cloud traffic lights.

If you'd like to listen to my full conversation with Blake Redfield, it is available below.