Tweet
I'd like to see them do away with the timing system alltogether and go with the sensors in the street, that allow for a signal change if no one is driving with the green.
City tries to get traffic signals in sync
By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/12/2008
March 6, 2008--Left, Tom Shelley and Kevin Russell, of Gerstner Electric, prepare the base of the upgraded traffic controller that will synchronize the traffic lights at the corner of Olive and 10th streets.
(Emily Rasinski /P-D)
ST. LOUIS — It's every driver's dream: An endless string of green lights and a nonstop commute to and from work. But in downtown St. Louis, drivers mostly hit reds.
The city's attempt to synchronize downtown traffic signals has been a stop-and-go effort since 2005, leaving strings of signals changing without rhyme or rhythm.
"It takes me about 12 minutes to drive 11 blocks," said Mary Stamm of Arnold, who works for AT&T. On Chestnut Street alone, she said, "It's at least five to six stops."
A $2.6 million project to improve signals at 55 downtown intersections is near completion after hitting underground obstacles. The goal is to move traffic better, shave travel time, save gasoline and reduce driver frustration.
Crews are going down manholes to string fiber optic cables through underground conduits — tubes and pipes that contain wiring — belonging to Ameren. Then they're cutting open the streets to connect each intersection to the next, and to the Street Department's control room on Hampton Avenue.
In the process, crews have encountered more problems than they expected. Below downtown lies a complex system of utility cables, water and sewer lines, and old street car tracks. Crews have found that much of the pipe needed for fiber optic cable has bent or collapsed over time. As a result, crews must run their wiring around that problem area instead of proceeding directly to the next intersection.
"Some of those pipes have been in there 50 years or more," said Mitch Kluesner, a lineman for Gerstner Electric, the Fenton-based contractor for the job. "A little shift in the ground and you can get a pipe that's just broken, the sides are against each other and you can't pull wire through."
City officials briefly discussed using wireless technology to avoid the underground problems. The Missouri Department of Transportation installed wireless technology to coordinate signals on Manchester Avenue in the city. But downtown has too many tall buildings and bends in the street for wireless to work, said Tom Huelman, project engineer with the St. Louis Board of Public Service.
The problems are the main reason the project is four months behind and could add $20,000 to costs, Huelman said. Delays in material shipments are also to blame. There is no penalty to the contractor since it's outside the contractor's control. With all 35,000 feet of fiber optic cable laid, and 22 of 55 new traffic light controllers installed, work the project should end late next month.
Drivers should notice a change immediately. Adjustments to signal timing will continue for months after that, Huelman said.
Cameras at major intersections will allow traffic officials at the Hampton headquarters to watch for backups and adjust signal timing when traffic flow changes. That should help with traffic for baseball and football games and other major events, while making life easier for downtown's 10,000 residents.
But for the next month, drivers must cope with downtown's 40-year-old traffic signal technology. It requires technicians to adjust signal timing on site and manually. Signals often malfunction, sending lights to flash.
"It can be pretty temperamental," said Steve Harris, engineering technician with the Board of Public Service, which oversees city public works projects.
It also elevates blood pressure.
Sheri Fox of Green Park feels the frustration each time she drives Tucker Boulevard. A red light turns green, and then the light at the next block turns red.
"I'm wondering who synced the lights," she said.
She's not the only one.
[email protected] | 314-340-8119
City tries to get traffic signals in sync
By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/12/2008
March 6, 2008--Left, Tom Shelley and Kevin Russell, of Gerstner Electric, prepare the base of the upgraded traffic controller that will synchronize the traffic lights at the corner of Olive and 10th streets.
(Emily Rasinski /P-D)
ST. LOUIS — It's every driver's dream: An endless string of green lights and a nonstop commute to and from work. But in downtown St. Louis, drivers mostly hit reds.
The city's attempt to synchronize downtown traffic signals has been a stop-and-go effort since 2005, leaving strings of signals changing without rhyme or rhythm.
"It takes me about 12 minutes to drive 11 blocks," said Mary Stamm of Arnold, who works for AT&T. On Chestnut Street alone, she said, "It's at least five to six stops."
A $2.6 million project to improve signals at 55 downtown intersections is near completion after hitting underground obstacles. The goal is to move traffic better, shave travel time, save gasoline and reduce driver frustration.
Crews are going down manholes to string fiber optic cables through underground conduits — tubes and pipes that contain wiring — belonging to Ameren. Then they're cutting open the streets to connect each intersection to the next, and to the Street Department's control room on Hampton Avenue.
In the process, crews have encountered more problems than they expected. Below downtown lies a complex system of utility cables, water and sewer lines, and old street car tracks. Crews have found that much of the pipe needed for fiber optic cable has bent or collapsed over time. As a result, crews must run their wiring around that problem area instead of proceeding directly to the next intersection.
"Some of those pipes have been in there 50 years or more," said Mitch Kluesner, a lineman for Gerstner Electric, the Fenton-based contractor for the job. "A little shift in the ground and you can get a pipe that's just broken, the sides are against each other and you can't pull wire through."
City officials briefly discussed using wireless technology to avoid the underground problems. The Missouri Department of Transportation installed wireless technology to coordinate signals on Manchester Avenue in the city. But downtown has too many tall buildings and bends in the street for wireless to work, said Tom Huelman, project engineer with the St. Louis Board of Public Service.
The problems are the main reason the project is four months behind and could add $20,000 to costs, Huelman said. Delays in material shipments are also to blame. There is no penalty to the contractor since it's outside the contractor's control. With all 35,000 feet of fiber optic cable laid, and 22 of 55 new traffic light controllers installed, work the project should end late next month.
Drivers should notice a change immediately. Adjustments to signal timing will continue for months after that, Huelman said.
Cameras at major intersections will allow traffic officials at the Hampton headquarters to watch for backups and adjust signal timing when traffic flow changes. That should help with traffic for baseball and football games and other major events, while making life easier for downtown's 10,000 residents.
But for the next month, drivers must cope with downtown's 40-year-old traffic signal technology. It requires technicians to adjust signal timing on site and manually. Signals often malfunction, sending lights to flash.
"It can be pretty temperamental," said Steve Harris, engineering technician with the Board of Public Service, which oversees city public works projects.
It also elevates blood pressure.
Sheri Fox of Green Park feels the frustration each time she drives Tucker Boulevard. A red light turns green, and then the light at the next block turns red.
"I'm wondering who synced the lights," she said.
She's not the only one.
[email protected] | 314-340-8119
Comment