Faulty Traffic Light Causing Backups at New Movie Theater

A faulty traffic light on Route 1 is causing some major traffic headaches at the new Cinemagic movie theater in Southgate Plaza.

The new 10-screen movie theater opened last month to much fanfare, but apparently getting out of the parking lot has been somewhat of a problem.

According to the Portsmouth Police log, on both Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8 around 9 p.m., police received complaints that the traffic lights at Southgate Plaza weren't cycling right, resulting in long lines of cars waiting to exit onto Route 1. In some cases, cars were waiting so long that they decided to run the red light. On Feb. 7, police even had to direct traffic when the movie let out.

Portsmouth Police contacted the New Hampshire Department of Transportation about adjusting the light cycle, but were told it had already been adjusted and if it were adjusted again it would cause a backup on Route 1.

NHDOT spokesman William Boynton said the department has received several calls from police regarding the signal at Southgate Plaza. 

He said technicians checked out the traffic signal, and found that it has a faulty traffic detector in the pavement that cannot be repaired or replaced until the weather gets warmer. As a result, the signal has been placed on "recall," meaning it is set on a sequence and goes through every signal phase, whether or not there is traffic waiting.