I was going to call this story "Traffic Light Count Explodes in Siskiyou County" with tongue in cheek since the CalTrans paving work added two lights (I only counted the three-color lights) but several clients live here and might think I'm trying to be a smart-aleck.
So I'm putting out the real story which is the huge improvement in the intersection where Highway 97 passes through town. To go north on 97 drivers must exit eye 5 and follow N. Weed Blvd. (which I think used to be old Highway 99) until 97 veers off and heads toward Oregon.
There were no stop signs or lights in this direction and much of the traffic was heavy trucks, making it quite difficult and sometimes dangerous to enter the roadway from a side street like Main Street, the central way through downtown.
Coming south on 97 there was a blinking red light where it tee-intersected N. Weed Blvd. at almost a 90 degree angle. And it did so coming down a slight grade. On more than one occasion an 18 wheeler didn't make the stop and the businesses across the street suffered oversize visitors who didn't come through the regular front door.
So now both north and south bound traffic have lights to control them. As a bonus the city somehow bundled the job with badly-needed local street re-paving so the whole community drives a lot better now.
One last note. I just read in the last Chamber newsletter why that totem pole is there in Ray's parking lot. Highway 97 was pushed through to Alaska just before WW II because America anticipated Japanese aggression there.
The Alcan (Alaskan-Canadian) highway passed through British Columbia and the Yukon before entering Alaska and terminating in Fairbanks. Identical totem poles were erected at each end to commemorate the feat.
It's been there, where Highway 97 ends here in Weed, ever since.
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