Well at last the gridlock starts to make sense.
From yesterday’s newspaper:
Don Nozzi, senior planner for the city of Gainesville and author of a book on sprawl, said smaller roads actually reduce gridlock by encouraging bike and bus riding.
“We simply cannot build (or) widen our way out of congestion,” he said.
Gainesville Sun, March 1, 2006
Ooooookaayyyyy.
As Dr. Phil might say at this juncture, “How’s that working out for you?”
So to counteract such wonderful thinking, here are some inexpensive ideas that will alleviate the traffic problem right now.
- Before we spend a bundle timing all the lights, take some of them down.
On 13th Street, do we really need lights at University Avenue, SW 2nd Ave, 4th Ave, 5th Ave, 8th Ave, 9th Ave, 9th Road, Archer Road, and 16th?
SW 4th Avenue opens west onto a no-entry service drive for UF, so that can come down.
SW 5th Ave opens west onto a exit-only one-way road from UF, that one can go into “blink mode” outside of afternoon rush hour.
- Test all the lights to be sure they’re sensing traffic properly.
A motor vehicle is least efficient when it is stopped with the engine running. It is also inefficient to change states between moving and stopping.
I average about five minutes a week sitting at lights with no traffic moving in any direction. That’s about four hours a year of idling away gas– for one person who doesn’t drive that much in the first place. Multiply that times all the vehicles on the road and you are wasting a major chunk of petroleum with no benefit whatsoever– not to mention causing additional pollution.
Want some examples of broken lights? How about the SW 16th Avenue by the VA hospital? Williston Road at SW 23rd Terrace? Depot Avenue and SW 6th Street? These signals are apparently responding to signals directly from space rather than anything pertaining to actual traffic.
- Take down the “No Turn On Red” signs.
Except for limited-sight intersections, there really isn’t any point to having them.
- Shorten the interval at the big intersections.
This concept is the simplest, but also the most influential. Shorter intervals keep the traffic flowing, instead of releasing large clumps of frustrated motorists into smaller intersections that don’t have the capacity to deal with them.
I think the DOT knows this, because when SW 13th went one-lane for construction, the traffic backup was so bad that they had no choice but to reduce the interval at the SW 16th Avenue light– and even with one lane, the traffic flowed.
Before closing, I must point out one more extremely important aspect. Overlooked in all this mess is egregious financial abuse that our elected representatives have allowed to persist.
As I understand it, a considerable chunk of my tax dollars was allocated to fund roadways. Some city planner with a point to prove has decided, without mandate or authority, that the roadways will not be built.
All well and good. But if the roadways I paid for will not be built, I would like to know how soon I can expect my refund.