IRVINE — The light is red, but the path for turning left is clear.

Starting with five test intersections, Irvine drivers will no longer have to wait for a traffic signal to turn green to make left turns if there’s no oncoming traffic. Soon a flashing yellow arrow will let drivers make the turn if it is safe.

The City Council on Tuesday, April 10, approved installing new streetlight fixtures at five intersections featuring four left-turn arrows: green (oncoming traffic is stopped with a red light), flashing yellow (if it is safe, you can turn, but on-coming traffic has a green light), steady yellow (be prepared to stop) and red (sit tight, don’t go anywhere).

Currently, left turns at these intersections are only allowed with the green arrow.

“There are intersections that don’t have quite the load on them, and we find ourselves sitting at the intersection for three, four, five minutes waiting,” Councilwoman Lynn Schott said. “Five, six, seven cars could have turned left because there’s no oncoming traffic and no danger, but we are prohibited by that red arrow. I think this will alleviate a lot of frustration that drivers have throughout the city.”

Intersections that will be testing the new flashing yellows by February (construction is scheduled to begin in August) are:

Culver Drive and Florence

Sand Canyon Avenue and Towngate

Rockfield Boulevard and Oldfield

Irvine Center Drive and Tesla

Irvine Center Drive and Odyssey

The city will monitor the five intersections for at least six months before deciding whether to install the new system at more than a dozen additional intersections throughout the city. Fullerton and Tustin already have some different kinds of signals in place that similarly allow the “protected-permissive left turns.”

Council members said they worry some about pedestrian and bicyclist safety, especially near schools and parks.

“We want to be very very careful because it’s such a new idea,” Councilwoman Christina Shea said. “I hope it works. I hope it gets our traffic moving quicker. But it’s the education component that we really need to be focused on.”

The project is expected to cost up to $1.73 million for the first phase. That includes includes other improvements at the five intersections such as new signal poles, video detection systems and traffic monitoring cameras.

To further help traffic issues, the city also plans this year to synchronize lights at freeway on- and off-ramps, widen University Drive between MacArthur Boulevard and Campus Drive, and improve the Culver Drive and University Drive intersection, Mayor Don Wagner said in March.