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Madison city buses can now skip ahead of cars stopped at one East Side intersection, thanks to recently installed traffic signals — the first of their kind in Wisconsin.

Called “queue jumps,” the special signals allow buses that are stopped in the far right lane to move through an intersection while cars in the other lanes remain waiting at a red light. A vertical white line lights up to indicate that the bus can go through, and a horizontal line indicates that the bus must stay stopped.

The signals were installed for both directions on East Washington Avenue at Fourth Street in November. They’ve been fully operational since then.

Mick Rusch, spokesman for Metro Transit, the city’s bus service, said the city waited to announce the new signals because it took a while for bus drivers to get acclimated and begin using them regularly. Their installation was announced this week.

Rusch said it was counterintuitive for bus drivers to go against a red light at first, but now most are using the signal regularly.

“It’s been working very smoothly,” Rusch said.