This May Be The Most Pointless Stop Light In Grand Rapids

Thankfully due to my early morning hours, I spend a lot of time driving around West Michigan during "non-peak" traffic times. I rarely know what the traffic during the morning or afternoon commutes is like, but I have noticed one intersection in Grand Rapids that no matter what time of the day it is, causes more headaches than it solves.

Since I work downtown and live in the Alger Heights area, one of the roads I use the most is Burton Street. Specfically, the area between Division and Eastern. Usually, it's a super efficient way to avoid 28th Street, because most intersections are purposeful and well-planned... except this one.

I'm talking about the intersection of Jefferson Street and Burton Street SE. Around a city block away from Burton and Division, this tiny intersection for some reason has a traffic light, and I wish I knew why.

Every single time I see it stopped red for traffic on Burton, rarely will you see a car sitting on the Jefferson Street side. This means traffic on Burton is slowed to a stop, only to let maybe one, if any, cars out onto Burton.

I will admit sometimes I rarely see cars turning off Jefferson to Burton, but most of the time they've turned right before the light has a chance to change, leaving myself and others, ffeeling frustrated for being delayed for no reason.

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I believe this intersection may have once been very necessary to the area since it's located next to a church and an outreach center. But, the traffic here seems to be dried up on a day-to-day basis, so why can't we convert it to a flashing light, or a standard stop sign now that it's no longer necessary?

While my co-workers have argued that the light at the end of the Cherry Street exit ramp off 131-NB is pretty pointless, at least during busy evenings downtown it can be helpful. I've never seen traffic so bad on Burton that someone would be stuck for a prolonged period at Jefferson if there were no light.

So come on powers that be, safe us the headache of stopping for no reason. This traffic light has to be the most pointless one in Grand Rapids.