COAL GROVE — The flashing blue light that greeted motorists driving from Ashland, Ky., across the Simeon Willis Bridge may have frustrated those heading for U.S. 52 Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

That’s because when it went on at approximately 6 p.m. Tuesday, it changed the timing for the light that regulates traffic at the Ohio side of the bridge.

“The flashing is at a controller box,” Kathleen Fuller, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Transportation District 9, said. “If the signal goes out, there is a battery backup in the box. It is like a generator until we get someone to fix it.”

When that happens, the timing on the traffic light goes back to a standard pattern.

“It won’t be optimal for traffic,” Fuller said. “We have a timing on that signal that is optimal for peak hours or for different times where the light may be a little more green on one side. If people are noticing that ‘I didn’t have as much time to get through the light’ that is it.”

The blue light flickering was reported to ODOT early Wednesday morning, but had started on Tuesday evening. The signal going out may have happened during power outages on Tuesday that have occurred throughout the district.

A signal electrician from ODOT was at the scene Wednesday morning to make repairs.

“It could be a minor repair,” Fuller said. “Or if it was a lightening strike, we have had that happened and has caused us to replace the controller box.”

Fuller expected the repairs to be completed on Wednesday.

“The blue light is an alert for us that the signal is on battery backup,” she said.