Getting Around: Updating traffic signals would save motorists time, fuel and money Sunday, January 15, 2006 By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fred Mielo, of Churchill, thought about the time, gas and money he wastes sitting at red lights, waiting for them to turn green while no traffic is in sight in any direction. "If we could eliminate outdated traffic signals and stop signs, many that seem to be placed for a few residents, or maybe just to slow traffic, the consumer might save a buck or two a week," he wrote. Even if it's 50 cents a week multiplied by 52 weeks a year, and then by 2 million vehicles in the Pittsburgh metro region, that's a lot of moola. A lot of fuel savings. Less air pollution. Less temptation to run red lights. We've reported this many times, many ways, but transportation officials ignore it. They're focused on the big picture, building roads and bridges. PennDOT has a queer system whereby it pays for most traffic lights and controls their installation, then makes municipalities responsible for operating and maintaining them. The municipalities cannot replace, modify or re-time the signals without PennDOT, except for the city of Pittsburgh. Because of the horse-and-buggy rules and procedures, traffic lights in a relatively short corridor can fall under a dozen political jurisdictions, every one with its own special interests and ideas. They pass the buck or blame. Most don't have the funds to hire a traffic engineer or update signal equipment. Some don't care. It's no wonder that Mr. Mielo is forced to stop for, or be unnecessarily delayed by, so many red lights, even where there's no traffic, even in the middle of the night, even in this high-tech age. I've reported this previously: A 1996 study by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, our master transportation planning agency, estimated that it would cost $35 million to modernize our traffic lights. The study predicted drivers would use up to 12 percent less fuel. By now, every traffic signal in Western Pennsylvania should have been evaluated, updated with "smart" models, interconnected in major corridors and retrofitted with fiber-optic lights requiring low maintenance and less electricity. Signalized intersections where conditions have changed and vehicle volumes have dropped over the years should have been converted to four-way or three-way stops to manage traffic satisfactorily. Many "No Turn on Red" restrictions, imposed in a hurry when they became law in the 1980s and which have shown no appreciable safety benefit, should have been removed. It isn't rocket science. The SPC report is 10 years old and still gathering dust. But instead of carrying out its recommendations, the same transportation bureaucracy is looking at traffic lights in the 10-county region. Again! With support from PennDOT, the SPC is engaged in what's called a Congestion Management Process, "a strategy to manage congestion through the region and facilitate movement of people and goods." The process is said to include a monitoring program to measure travel times and delays on more than 100 specific corridors experiencing congestion. Data on one-third of the system is monitored every year by a vehicle traveling in traffic during morning and evening rush hours. The experts take three years to find out what a commuter can tell them any day of the week on the Parkway West, Parkway East, Route 88, Route 51, Route 28, Interstate 279, Route 228, Route 30, Business Route 22, Freedom Road, Second Avenue, East Carson Street, Ohio River Boulevard, Mosside Boulevard, West Liberty Avenue and the Homestead Grays Bridge. I have no idea where the planners find another 84 or so corridors with "unbearable congestion" in the region. I assume Possum Hollow Road in Westmoreland County isn't on the list, but you never know. According to the SPC, the Congestion Management Process rates 26 possible strategies to address traffic congestion, including "signal improvements, intersection improvements, improved transit service, park-n-ride facilities, ride-share programs, Intelligent Transportation Systems and access management as well as lane additions, new interchanges or new highways." Have you ever heard so much baloney? In 2003, the Pittsburgh region finished in a 16-way tie for last place in "traffic signal coordination" among 75 urban areas evaluated by the Texas Transportation Institute, a credible outfit. By now, I wouldn't be surprised if we're No. 75. Exhibit No. 1. Bill and Harriet Murray, who live on Freedom Road in Cranberry, contend daily with the busy intersection where their road intersects with Routes 19 and 228, so they know. The couple believes the timing of the traffic signals is "unbalanced," although PennDOT says that it optimized the timing during intersection work last year, and it has since monitored and adjusted the lights "to ensure maximum benefit to motorists." Then why, Mr. Murray asked, do drivers coming east on Route 228 or west on Freedom have such a short green light that only seven or eight cars in the queue get through as the light cycles, while maybe 30 cars get through on Route 19? "The way the lights are set may have been fine 10 years ago," Mr. Murray said. But now, "in addition to being exasperating, it creates a dangerous situation when cars try to beat the light." PennDOT said it was up to Cranberry officials to change the timing on the lights, but only with the department's approval, part of the runaround. PennDOT sent Mr. Murray's letter to Cranberry "to inform them of your concern." He can find it in the dead-letter file. Exhibit No. 2. Don Walker, of Morningside, votes the "No Turn on Red" sign on Stanton Avenue at Chislett Street as the most useless of many in Pittsburgh. "Going east [on Stanton], oncoming westbound traffic can't move when the light is red. Chislett is one-way heading north, so nothing is coming out. To your right, traffic is normally very light. So why, oh, why, must one sit there, unable to make the right turn? Sigh." I rest my case. Elsewhere. The New Mexico Department of Transportation has paid $50 million to a private rail company to buy 51 miles of mainline railroad rights of way to establish commuter rail service to Albuquerque. Believe it! The deck area of 25,307 PennDOT-owned bridges totals more than 2,500 acres, enough to cover Pymatuning Lake in Crawford County. Plate du jour. Retired sports writer Ray Kienzl, of Whitehall, recently spotted the Pennsylvania personalized license plate WAJASAY in the South Hills. NUTTIN. You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ |