Minor Mesa traffic flow must yield

QUESTION: When traveling west on Mesa Avenue and turning right onto Cresta Road, there is a yield sign. Why does traffic turning right have to yield to the left-turn traffic from eastbound Mesa? Cresta dead-ends at this intersection, so it is not a yield for cross traffic.
- James Loo

ANSWER: At that location the predominant traffic flow is eastbound Mesa Avenue turning north on Cresta Road and southbound Cresta Road traffic turning west on Mesa Avenue, according to David Krauth, principal city traffic engineer. The right turn off Mesa is considered a “minor” traffic movement, and those people need to yield to the “major” traffic movement, Krauth said. This traffic flow channels drivers onto Mesa to the west of Cresta Road for through traffic, and it discourages cut-throughs in the residential area on Mesa to the east of Cresta Road.