New Traffic Lights Coming to Oakland County Might Catch Drivers Off Guard

Some changes are coming to eight I-96 on-ramps in Oakland County that might catch some drivers off guard and may even confuse them a bit.

According to Fox 2 Detroit, ramp metering traffic lights are coming to eight I-96 on-ramps in Oakland County, from I-275 to Kent Lake Road. These lights aren’t your typical stop-and-go signals; they control when cars enter the freeway, letting vehicles go one at a time instead of all at once. Obviously, the goal is to keep traffic flowing smoothly and reduce crashes caused by last-second merges.

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Keep in mind, these metering traffic lights won’t be used all the time, only when traffic is heavy and congested.

How Ramp Metering Works

When the ramp meter is active, you’ll see red, yellow, and green lights, just like a regular traffic signal. Drivers will need to stop and wait their turn to merge onto the freeway. When traffic is light, the lights flash yellow, which means proceed with caution (duh). I think what makes them confusing is that they’re on the ramp.

If you blow through a red light on the ramp, it’s treated the same as running a red light at a regular intersection, meaning you could get a ticket.

These new ramp meters will start being used this Wednesday.

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I didn’t realize ramp meters have been around in Michigan for over 40 years. I thought this was a brand-new concept, but I was wrong. Detroit started using them back in the early ’80s on I-94, but Oakland County is just now getting them. So yeah, these new ramp meters might confuse some drivers at first..