Some of the most common gripes among local residents are traffic signals.

In most cases, the complaint has to do with signals that take forever to turn green even though there's no traffic coming from other directions.

The only thing that could be worse is if the signals skipped over drivers entirely.

Oh wait, that does happen. At least on Gene Autry Trail.

In my experience, this tends to happen more often at night when there's not as much traffic.

Sometimes when southbound drivers stop at the intersections at Ramon Road or East Palm Canyon Drive, the cycle skips over them and east- and westbound traffic continues moving after only having a red light for a second.

Is it because there isn't enough weight from vehicles to alert the sensor? Is the timing just off?

California Department of Transportation spokeswoman Shelli Lombardo said either may be the case, or perhaps there's just a bad sensor that needs replacing.

She said she would put in a request for crews to check out the signals.

Unfortunately, it could be a couple weeks before they get around to it, Lombardo said.

Whom to contact

California Department of Transportation public affairs: (909) 383-4631

Faded crosswalk

Unfortunately, this hasn't really been a good week to get answers, at least regarding some issues around the Coachella Valley.

Between Veterans Day, furloughs and a hectic schedule, this was a week of playing phone tag and leaving voicemail.

Just outside the Desert Imax Theatre in Cathedral City, on Highway 111 at Cathedral Canyon Drive, the crosswalk is fading away, and it's hard to tell where it begins and ends.

Last week, some vehicles came to a screeching halt when they noticed they entered the crosswalk and were blocking it from pedestrians.

No one from City Hall responded to inquiries this week. Perhaps there will be a response next week.

In the meantime, the matter has been brought to Cathedral City's attention.

Whom to contact

Cathedral City City Hall, (760) 770-0340