I always said if they did something smart in California, I post it.
Well it's happening.
NX 1070′s Pete Demetriou reports L.A. is about to become the first major city in the world to synchronize all of its traffic signals.The Automated Traffic Surveillance & Control (ATSAC) signal synchronization program was scheduled to be initiated at 9 a.m. at the northwest corner of S. Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Officials said the completion of this project will increase travel speeds by 16 percent and reduces travel times by 12 percent.
I realize that LA is one of the countries most congested cities. Which makes improving traffic flow a great idea. However, that's not the best part about this policy. Synchronized traffic lights improve gas mileage. City driving wastes large amounts of gas. When you keep traffic moving it improves gas mileage. My guess is if every city in the US followed LA's example and synchronized its traffic lights to keep cars in the flow of traffic moving, it would save more gas than all of the Obama auto regulations scheduled to take place in the next two years.
Absolutley. I hear once in awhile how many hours city people waste due to traffic.
ReplyDeletePut them in a prius so the engine shuts off when they are stopped.
Think of how much money could be saved if people would or could live close to work.
But I live in the country, so I burn more gas than they do.
I agree that it's a good idea. The implementation, however, is in the hands of government employees, which does not bode well.
ReplyDeleteThe main highway running through town here, north-to-south, is Academy Blvd. I take a side street that hooks up with it about 3 miles from the north end, and drive about five miles to my office. The lights are (were!) synchronized so that in normal traffic flow, I could make all the lights in that stretch without having to stop once.
Some busybody at the streets department decided to change the timing on one of them, so I now have to stop half way through the trip. And because that light changed the flow, I also end up hitting another red light a little further on, before continuing on as normal. This adds another couple minutes of wasted gas to not just my commute 200+ days a year, but every single car driving that same stretch day-in and day-out, 365 days a year.
That's a lot of wasted gas, all from changing one single light's timing.
Hey, at least my truck uses E85; if I have to waste gas idling at a red light, at least it will cost me a little less.
Giraffe: "Think of how much money could be saved if people would or could live close to work."
ReplyDeleteIdeally, yes. But circumstances rarely work out like that. For instance, when I first started working at my current position, my office was in a leased building on the north end of town, only a couple of miles from my house. After a year or so after starting there, the company decided to save some money by consolidating my program with some other ones in another building they leased on the south end, thus adding another seven miles to my commute.
(Ironically, they did yet another consolidation a couple of years ago, moving some people back north to a building they owned that was just three miles from my house...but I was not one of them.)
The only other solution to such a problem would be to quit that company and work for another that's located in my area. But that introduces a whole slew of other problems that avalanche the relatively minor ones of a few more minutes and a few more dollars of gas.
The stoplights in my town are absolutely terrible. They are set by the police department. I think it is their goal that you stop at every light.
ReplyDelete"That's a lot of wasted gas, all from changing one single light's timing."
ReplyDeleteTo me thats the point. The new car regs comming in the next two years to "save gas" are going to suck. They could do more to save gas by changing the stop lights and improving flow, which would improve peoples moods to, than they will with the new regs.
I'm told that gas is $5/gal in CA. I gotta think this will only help in terms of peoples gas budget.