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http://time.com/3845445/commuting-times-...cl-lights/
What we need are "adaptive" signals... Esp, in Keeau.. The light by the school just goes red for 1 car stopping the entire highway. Both lights are a joke. Hilo is worse. Would have been nice to have upgraded the highway lights before spending a million dollars on traffic cams.
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[i]What we need are "adaptive" signals... Esp, in Keeau.. The light by the school just goes red for 1 car stopping the entire highway.[/]
That sounds pretty "adaptive" to me, just "poorly optimized", and not much of a "bypass".
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TomK,
You are being fatalistic.
Instead, we could be realistic, like many, many other places have been in increasing numbers for the past 25 years and use roundabouts as a great improvement.
But, no, the cash cow of signal lights is too lucrative for a few well connected people.
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i see the re-programming of lights as a short term solution. it can happen in a couple of days. this isn't about long term plans or fundamental systematic changes of society.
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I believe the rephasing or retiming of traffic signals generally requires a traffic count study be done, so it wouldn't happen overnight or even in any short period of time. Sounds like a way for traffic engineers to justify their existence!
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I'm interested in the roundabouts. No signal lights to buy, install, power, or maintain. 1 trial intersection wouldn't be too costly to experiment with to see how the community likes the scheme.
I wonder what the state of the art is for sensors at lights? I think they all rely on the road-bed switches now? I wonder if they could improve flow with some sort of camera/computer-based sensors that would be more efficient at evaluating the live traffic and adjusting the lights to improve flow. Can't begin to count how many times I've been stopped by dumb lights when there really isn't any opposing traffic, or another second of green would be appropriate.
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I think they all rely on the road-bed switches now?
Big loops of wire; large metal objects change the inductance of the coil, possibly not sensitive enough for small vehicles (motorcycle, bicycle).
years of maintenance and replacement of parts
Yes: the loops have to be right on the surface, so must be replaced every time the road is repaved.
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I remember reading about 20 years ago that the first use of AI (artificial intelligence) will be on traffic lights. Cameras would be able to see the traffic and the computer would generate the most efficient traffic signal patterns to keep the traffic moving.
I guess that never happened, but we did get the genetically modified crops they promised.
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Anyone ever seen the traffic monitoring and control systems in London (UK)?
Hawai'i County is nothing. Talk about traffic and headaches.
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quote:
Originally posted by seekir
Lights can't be synched on two way thoroughfares, only on one-way roads.
I'm not sure about that. When I lived in NJ there was a 6 lane highway (3 lanes each way) with a 50MPH limit, and intersections every couple of miles. No matter which direction you were traveling, if you drove about 45 to 50 MPH, you would make most of the lights.
Maybe a math thing?
