I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but I swear the Traffic Engineers in Colorado Springs have somehow timed the lights to cycle perfectly in order to prevent traffic from getting anywhere in this town! It seems like you will stop at a red light, wait a minute for it to turn green, then proceed. If you proceed at the speed limit, you are almost guaranteed to either stop at the next light or, more than likely, make it through the first and stop at the next.

You'll notice they accomplish their goal of absolute gridlock many ways. First and foremost, they do so by timing the lights so that they are so far out of whack that it is physically impossible for you to catch one if you have been stopped at the previous intersection. Then, they'll throw in a random, "phantom" light change. You've all seen these. On some random side street that hasn't had a car pull up to the intersection in the last 8 hours, the light suddenly cycles to allow... well, NOBODY... to turn.

Got one person who needs to turn from Crappy Sidestreet A onto Major Thoroughfare B? Well, let's make the 412 cars on Major Thoroughfare B come to a complete stop in order to accommodate the needs of ONE person. Sure, it makes about as much sense as Granny Smith driving from the Springs to Denver at 49 MPH in the left lane, but if that lack of common sense didn't stop her, why should it stop the good folks controlling the lights in Colorado Springs? Lastly, they aim the traffic control sensor to cover cars that are turning right as well so that a car turning right triggers a light cycle. By the time the light cycles to green, the guy (and you know there's only ONE person there) who was turning right has not only completed his turn, but he's stopped at the next red light, joining you in the same 4th level of hell in Dante's Inferno. Don't worry though. In a block, you guys will be stopped again!