posted by Joe Polk at 10:02 AM /
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission has notified four South Hills communities that it is going forward with a project to coordinate traffic lights along Route 19. Domenic D'Andrea, a traffic signal projects coordinator for the agency, said the group had completed its field investigation of the scope and costs of the project.
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He said in the coming weeks the group will schedule a meeting with the municipalities to go over cost and schedules. Bethel Park Council passed a resolution April 13 to participate in the plan. Jerry Duke, Bethel Park's municipal planner, said the municipality was a minor player in the project because it has only one signal -- at Highland Road -- in the affected corridor.
He said the majority of the project would take place in Mt. Lebanon, but it also would include participation from Peters and Upper St. Clair.
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09113/964806-55.stm
Discuss this issue
He said in the coming weeks the group will schedule a meeting with the municipalities to go over cost and schedules. Bethel Park Council passed a resolution April 13 to participate in the plan. Jerry Duke, Bethel Park's municipal planner, said the municipality was a minor player in the project because it has only one signal -- at Highland Road -- in the affected corridor.
He said the majority of the project would take place in Mt. Lebanon, but it also would include participation from Peters and Upper St. Clair.
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09113/964806-55.stm
Labels: route 19, traffic lights
8 Comments:
Will the net effect of implementation of this plan be that not only will the number of vehicles using & passing through Mt. Lebanon on Route 19 increase, but the high incidence of speeding, both in numbers of vehicles as well as speeds above posted speed limits likely increase as well ?
Are there any valid case studies of other similarly situated communities that offer guidance on this that our officials could/should consider before signing onto such a plan ?
Why cannot officials of PA cities, townships, boroughs and municipalities with state highways going through their communities collectively petition the state legislature to allow local law enforcement to utilize radar along ,and only along, those state highways ?
Coordinating the lights does not mean increasing speeding along the corridor. The idea is that the lights are coordinated so that the flow of traffic is at an acceptable speed. Go too fast and you hit all red lights. Another great benefit is that when you increase the flow on major arteries you will decrease the cut throughs on sidestreets.
Now if only Dormont would participate perhaps the tangle of traffic between Bower Hill and McFarland would flow as well.
"Ideas" are great, particularly when they can be confirmed or supported by actual experience. Can you cite relevant case studies that confirm or support the "idea", and possible links to such studies ?
If those increasing travelers having a proclivity to speeding on that arterial roadway become frustrated with the "idea", an unintended consequence might be an increase in shortcutting through residential & connector streets.
Traffic flows like water. There is a source and an endpoint and there are channels in between. If the main channel has less obstructions, then more water flows through it and less seeks alternate routes.
Similarly, if coordinating the lights results in more cars passing through per hour, then more people will see a benefit and stay on the main road.
In Oakland, along Fifth Avenue, if I stay at 25 mph I always have exactly one red light. If I speed up to 30 mph I get every light. They have trained me well. I expect similar benefits along Washington Road.
Also, with less stopping and starting, there should be an overall benefit on fuel efficiency of cars through this stretch. A tiny benefit for each trip, to be sure, but integrating to a nice savings over the long run and over the entire population. Air quality should also improve.
Washington Rd isn't a multi-lane one-way street like Fifth Ave.
How is light timing going to work when there is one lane on Washington Rd. Southbound in front of Southminster church, cars parked in the curb lane, you want to continue going South, but there is one guy waiting to turn left onto Castle Shannon Blvd?
Anecdotal opinions, etc. are great...I express them all the time.... and perhaps in this case they may be accurate and appropriate. However, I am merely asking if there is a body of documented evidence from formal, professionally conducted studies (ITE members, for example)that support what is being proposed and you are opining and not result in the unintended consequences that I have suggested might, just might, occur here in Mt. Lebanon. What supporting facts or evidence does the SPC possess about this Route 19 proposal beyond "scope and costs" ? What evidence does Mt. Lebanon have ? PennDot ?
The posted article provides no indications or even clues...and I am merely asking.
A basic search on Google will bring up a number of studies and options for you. A decent start (though I am always suspect of anything on Wiki) is:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Fundamentals_of_Transportation/Traffic_Signals
If anything, it is fun to work through the math.
And I would suggest going up to Oakland on a Sunday morning and traveling down Fifth Avenue...it is a perfect example of how it works.
Like Mr. Huston said, it doesn't work nearly as well for a two way street.
Sure, if you're going with the
green wave, everything might go smoothly. However, unless you change the speed limit, it's not going to work if you're going in the opposite direction. It also doesn't work well if people are driving significantly slower or faster than the recommended speed.
Do I think we should give it a shot? Sure. But don't expect it to be the panacea that permanently fixes Mt. Lebanon's traffic woes.
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