Drivers in Pleasanton noticed a new traffic light operating in town, a long-planned safety measure at the intersection of Bernal Avenue and Nevada Street, not far from downtown.

City officials notified commuters of the new red light via tweet last week and asked them to watch out for roadway changes when driving in the area. The need for the facility was initiated by the new causeway being built for the Irby Ranch neighborhood with 87 homes plus the residential community of Sunflower Hill.

“We’ve outlined in our general plan what our future traffic will look like, and then we’ll include roadway modifications, new roadways and also new traffic signals,” city traffic engineer Mike Tassano told The Weekly.

“So when the causeway was built as part of the Irby Ranch project, we started signal construction,” Tassano said. “They were already making a number of improvements so we didn’t ask Irby Ranch to install the signal, we said we would do it ourselves.”

“We needed a traffic light just to allow that movement to and from there safely,” he added.

The housing project would add to most of the traffic in the area and was a reason for the new signal at the intersection, according to Tassano.

“If you choose Vineyard or go to Stanley, the most direct route will be Nevada,” he said. “And so we knew that as soon as we built the roadway, we would have them increase in these left-turn vehicles trying to access Nevada Street.”

According to Tassano, the cost to build and install a traffic light was around $750,000, with additional concrete work.

“This additional concrete work included rebuilding the corners, pushing them towards the intersection to slow the turning movements of vehicles and reduce crossing distances for pedestrians,” he said. “We have also modified the median on Bernal to install a second left turn lane there to better accommodate the volume of vehicles.”

Tassano said the project was funded by the city’s Traffic Impact Fee fund, which is collected from new development projects used to pay for necessary traffic network improvements.

The process of installing, building and operating the red light has been fraught with difficulties, and the pandemic has added to the delay.

“Due to the pandemic, it took longer for PG&E to assign access points to begin work,” Tassano said. “We waited a while for them to provide us with the location, because we have to put it in the factories to run conduits, run your power line to this pole and get power from there.

The global shortage of semiconductors during the pandemic has caused difficulties not only in sectors such as automotive and IT, but it has also disrupted the supply of traffic light heads that also use microchips.

“Because of the pandemic and the microchip processor (shortage),” he said, adding that other products “probably take priority over things like our traffic light controllers, which are also a computer and our cameras, so everything needs those same chips.”

According to Tassano, cameras in signal heads detect oncoming traffic and are essential for optimal operation of traffic signals.

In addition to microchips, delays were exacerbated when signal heads were stolen from storage. As a solution to the stolen parts, the service had to settle for replacing them with similar components.

“That’s why this traffic light has yellow borders, around the traffic light heads, it’s not a normal setup for us,” Tassano said. “(They) are usually just Caltrans signals that have the yellow border.”

The new traffic light is getting mixed reactions from people frequenting the area. While some complain about the excessive number of red lights, others are excited about this new addition, according to Tassano.

“It’s just one of those unfortunate things is that traffic lights are a safety tool that we use to provide access,” he said. “I’ve heard of these residents (of Irby Ranch), and they’re excited to have more direct access to their development.”