Update: The signal lights appeared to be fixed as of roughly 6 p.m. Wednesday, when a Voice reporter went through the intersection. Road workers were still in the area.
A traffic signal outage at a busy intersection in Mountain View led to traffic snarls Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, with no apparent notification to the public until the lights had been out for over 18 hours.
The outage occurred at the El Camino Real and El Monte Avenue intersection sometime before 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 21, when it was observed by a Voice reporter. Vehicles were backed up on El Camino Real in both directions during the rush hour commute. The traffic signal was still not in service the next day around 8:45 a.m., when the reporter again went through the intersection.
Caltrans spokesperson Victor Gauthier told the Voice around noon Wednesday that the traffic signal outage was first reported to the agency around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and is believed to be caused by loose wires. The repair work is expected to be finished by 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and no other traffic signals were out of service, Gauthier said.
When the Voice reached out to the Mountain Voice Police Department early Wednesday morning to get information about the outage, spokesperson Monica Leon confirmed the department was aware of the situation, but did not provide additional information.
At around 11:30 a.m., the police department posted a traffic alert on social media, which appeared to be the first time officials informed the public about the incident. The alert asked motorists to treat the intersection as a three-way stop until the traffic signal is back in service.
El Camino Real is a major commute corridor, which is formally known as State Route 82 and is managed by Caltrans, rather than local cities. The El Monte Avenue intersection is a busy one, with drivers using El Monte to head to Los Altos High School in the mornings.
The traffic corridor has a history of vehicle collisions and pedestrian fatalities, including a crash earlier this year at the nearby intersection of El Camino Real and Escuela Avenue that killed a 73-year-old Mountain View man.
The city is starting to implement plans for long-anticipated road improvements on El Monte Avenue and an adjacent portion of El Camino Real.
At around noon today, the lights were back on the fritz (flashing red lights on all sides).