What's up with . . .

. . . the traffic lights at the Essex/Corning/Spring intersection

When the new traffic signals at the intersection of Essex, Corning and Spring streets were installed last fall, I was thinking a flip of the switch would be all it would take to get them going. Shows what I know.

Eight months later, that switch has yet to be flipped. The lights hang there blankly, prohibited from helping drivers as they continue to navigate the tricky intersection on their own.

I asked Mayor Mike Cahill what the delay is all about. He said it all has to do with whether or not the lights need to be coordinated with the nearby Montserrat train crossings.

“We’ve run into some real frustrations with the MBTA and Keolis,” Cahill told me. “It has proved very elusive to get the two of them aligned and make clear what is needed in terms of preemption.”

‘Preemption’ is the word that kept coming up in my conversations with Cahill and with Rich Benevento, the longtime chair of the city’s Parking & Traffic Commission. Benevento explained that preemption is a technology that can override traffic signals to prevent vehicles from backing up on the train tracks when a train is arriving. So if there’s a long line of cars waiting at a red light on Essex Street, the light would turn green when a train is coming to make sure the tracks are clear of vehicles.

Preemption is used in many places where traffic lights are close to railroad crossings. Gloucester Crossing is one example.

The question is whether the preemption technology is needed at the Essex/Corning/Spring intersection. And that question needs to be answered by the MBTA and Keolis, the company that operates the commuter rail. Cahill said the MBTA and Keolis have finally begun the study needed to make that determination, and he’s hoping they get the answer by the end of this summer.

I asked Cahill why the preemption question is only being addressed now. The city began talking about putting up the lights in 2021.

“We’ve been in front of them for about 2 1/2 years with the open question of will there need to be a preemption system and, if so, what will it look like,” Cahill said. “I’m trying to be understanding of the process. It’s been a too-long process.”

Cahill said the city doesn’t think preemption is needed because the lights are far enough from the railroad crossings — there’s one on both Essex and Spring. But that’s not the city’s determination to make.

Cahill said that Phillip Eng, the MBTA general manager and the state’s interim transportation secretary, is aware of the problem.

“We’ve met with him several times (about transportation-related issues in Beverly) and this has been at the top of the list several times,” Cahill said. “He’s a results-focused leader. He’s really put a focus on it.”

So there you go. The top transportation guy in the entire state is trying to get the signals working at Essex/Corning/Spring. All we need is the green light.