{"id":156805,"date":"2026-03-08T12:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/156805\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T12:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:30:14","slug":"rough-winter-leaves-many-nyc-traffic-signals-on-the-fritz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/156805\/","title":{"rendered":"Rough winter leaves many NYC traffic signals on the fritz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-block-key=\"cyjtl\">New York City\u2019s traffic signals are suffering the consequences of two major winter storms and a deep freeze that lasted for weeks.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"f6l7i\">Complaints about broken traffic signals have surged to 15,543 so far this year, up 42% compared to the same period in 2025. The Department of Transportation confirmed the spike in faulty traffic signals and said the problem is mainly tied to last month\u2019s blizzard, which dumped as much as <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/24-inches-of-snow-in-some-of-nyc-whats-happening-as-we-dig-out\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">24 inches of snow<\/a>. The agency said it raced to fix lights that fritzed out, addressing the problem within an hour and 40 minutes on average.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"199t4\">\u201cThe recent historic snowstorm brought power outages across the city, which also had an impact on our signals\u2014 we responded quickly to make repairs and keep New Yorkers safe,\u201d spokesperson Mona Bruno said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"6vpt4\">Transportation officials said that many requests were for traffic signals that were flashing yellow, which occurs due to voltage fluctuations. The uptick of problems was likely caused by melting snow and ice seeping into underground wiring, officials said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"ajk43\">A wave of home power outages after last month\u2019s storm was also <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/con-ed-blames-salt-spread-after-thousands-lose-power-in-brooklyn\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">attributed to road salt<\/a> damaging underground electrical cables.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"59jap\">Officials also attributed traffic light outages to fallen trees.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"a2qp2\">New York City has around 13,500 signalized intersections, but only a fraction have a battery backup that allows them to function when power is disrupted.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"1p08s\">Sam Schwartz, a former traffic commissioner, said he recommended more backup batteries after the 2003 blackout snarled traffic and thrust the city into darkness.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"fh0s5\">\u201cThe traffic signals being out caused a massive problem as people tried to negotiate intersections,\u201d Schwartz said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"2mf55\">New York City was the first large U.S. city to begin fully converting to more energy-efficient LED traffic lights. The process was completed in 2009. The shift cut the energy used by traffic signals by 81%. Schwartz said the reduced energy consumption makes battery backups more feasible.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"4q2vo\">The dangers of darkened intersections are real. People were almost twice as likely to be injured in so-called dark signal crashes, according to a 2007 study commissioned by the state transportation department.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"es8db\">When fail-safes kick in as designed, Schwartz said, a flashing yellow light should be treated as a sign to proceed with caution, while a flashing red light should be treated as a stop sign.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"25nal\">Complaints about potholes are also up following the rough weather and plowing, with 13,649 complaints about street conditions so far this year.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"cg9pd\">Transportation officials said it&#8217;s typical to see more complaints following intense winter weather, but that the agency has filled roughly 170,000 potholes annually in recent years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s traffic signals are suffering the consequences of two major winter storms and a deep freeze&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-156805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}