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CHICO — At first glance, a stoplight on Eight and Main streets seems counterintuitive from the perspective of a driver.

The stoplight faces the opposite direction of one way traffic, which isn’t visible when driving.

While drivers may not use or see the stoplight in action, pedestrians and bikers use the full-sized stoplight as a pedestrian crossing signal.

Caltrans spokesman Gilbert Mohtes-Chan said the stoplight is used as a signal for pedestrians because no push-button crossing signals have been installed.

“You wouldn’t know it’s turning yellow when you could be walking in mid intersection when all of a sudden traffic on Eighth Street starts to cross,” Mohtes-Chan said.

Just one block down, Oroville Avenue also has a seemingly out of place stoplight for the same reason: to allow pedestrians to cross.

While most crosswalks in downtown Chico are modernized with push button crosswalks, the intersections on Eighth Street have not been updated.

Caltrans is responsible for maintaining parts of Eight Street in partnership with Chico because the road is also designated as state Highway 32. Mohtes-Chan said the intersection uses older poles and it hasn’t been updated in some time.

The intersection is due for some pedestrian safety improvements, however.

A Caltrans pedestrian safety project is in early stages of engineering and will bring the intersections of West Eighth Street, West Ninth Street, Main Street and Oroville Avenue up to current standards, Mohtes-Chan said.

The pedestrian safety project plans to upgrade the intersections’ street lights, traffic signals and add pedestrian push-button signals with countdowns as the bulk of the work.

Construction is likely to begin fall 2023 and the project will be visually similar to the recent improvement of the intersection of West Sacramento Avenue and Nord Avenue, Mohtes-Chan said.Related Articles Transportation | California gas is ‘out of whack’ – nearly $2 more than national average Transportation | Masks off at BART? Agency face covering rule set to end — again Transportation | New report shows more people are leaving San Francisco than any other metro Transportation | California crash that killed 9 spurs call for new cars to detect drunken drivers Transportation | Safeway to pay $8 million over gas station tanks, five Bay Area DA offices to get money

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