By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Another year, another set of mixed signals on the Upper West Side.
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer is once again asking the Department of Transportaion to fix several intersections where crosswalk signals blink "walk" and "don't walk" at the same time.
Brewer, who recently sent out a staffer to count the stop-and-go signals, said pedestrians are left confounded at at least two dozen intersections, including West 86th Street and Columbus Avenue, West 89th Street and Broadway and West 96th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
A year ago, Brewer found the same problem at crosswalks up and down the Upper West Side.
The councilwoman wants the Department of Transportation to fix the mixed signals before someone makes the wrong choice to step into the street and ends up hurt.
The signals start to malfunction when they reach the end of their seven-year life cycle, said DOT spokesman Monty Dean. The city installed about 100,000 of the signals in 2004.
The malfunction is relatively rare: less than three percent of the signals required repairs for mixed signals in 2009, Dean said.
The DOT is installing new signals that don't have the same problem because the power supply is configured differently, Dean said.
People who spot a signal with a "flashing hand" and "crossing man" lit up at the same time should call 311 to report the problem, Dean said. DOT usually responds within a few hours, he said.
