By Andrew BowenThe Daily Northwestern

Getting stuck at a red light in Evanston can be a frustrating experience.

Many students and residents say Evanston’s outdated traffic lights bother them. About 50 percent are on timers, meaning the lights change every set number of seconds, said John Burke, Evanston’s transportation director. Some of the lights are 40 years old, he said.

“A lot of them are quite antiquated – they still run on electro-mechanical systems, which have long been phased out,” he said.

Burke said the Division of Transportation is replacing the old system.

“We’re using federal and state funding to the extent that we can to have traffic-responsive traffic signals,” he said.

Those traffic-responsive signals use a “loop sensor” under the road, Burke said. The sensor detect approaching cars and changes the traffic light to let the cars pass. When intersections are close together, cables can connect one sensor to the next to coordinate traffic flow.

The transportation department has put in a few of the new traffic signals already, one of them at Church Street and Dodge Avenue. Currently the department is working on upgrading several lights on Ridge Avenue, and at the intersection of Central Street and Asbury Avenue.

Some students said the traffic lights bother them but doubt that replacing them will be worth the trouble.

“I think a main problem with installing sensors everywhere would be the time the construction would take,” said Brendon Lavernia, a Communication junior who drives for SafeRide, Northwestern University’s late-night transportation service.

“But there are a few lights … that I get stuck at for three or four minutes for no apparent reason. I think those areas should have sensors installed,” he said.

Evanston residents also said the timed traffic lights were problematic.

“I think the timing works pretty well, except for certain signals,” said Dexter Bailey, who lives on the 2200 block of Ridge Avenue. “It’s always an inconvenience, particularly when you’re sitting there and no one’s going at all.”

Burke said that replacing the old signals might have environmental benefits.

“It’s also very important for air-quality reasons that traffic not be unnecessarily delayed,” he said.