The city is making progress on making sure stoplights don't go dark during storms.
The city has upgraded 76 intersections with battery backups for traffic signals since 2008, when the project got started with some Regional Transportation Authority money. The systems cost about $4,500 each.
You might not see a difference, but Paul Burton, electronics technician supervisor at the city transportation department, certainly does.
When the project began four years ago, "I was a traffic signal technician at the time, and typically when a thunderstorm moved through town, we'd have 50 or 60 intersections on flash," Burton recalls. "With these battery backup systems, a (power surge or a brown out) won't knock signals offline."
The battery backup system can detect a power outage and automatically switch a stoplight to battery power, which lasts six or seven hours.
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"Ideally, people will never notice because the traffic signals keep moving," Burton said.
The city prioritized Speedway, Broadway, 22nd Street, Golf Links and intersections next to hospitals, Burton said.
After that, the city began installing battery backups - roughly the same size as your car battery - at new or rebuilt intersections or at intersections that need major repairs anyway.
The city has a long way to go. Only about 20 percent of city traffic signals have battery backups. Oro Valley is already at 100 percent, and Marana will be soon with the completion of the Oldfather Road and Ina Road intersection.
STREETCAR UPDATES
Today:
• The intersection of Congress Street and Fifth Avenue will be closed from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. to complete waterline work in the area.
• The intersection of Congress Street and Stone Avenue will be reduced to one lane from 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday.
All week:
There will be overnight closures at the intersection of Congress Street and Church Avenue. Contractors will work from 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following mornings.
North- and southbound traffic will not be permitted through the intersection. Detour signs will be in place to direct motorists.
• Right turns from southbound Church Avenue to Congress Street will be allowed.
• Watch for intermittent restrictions of the sidewalk at the southwest corner of Congress Street and Arizona Avenue while the contractor installs underground utilities.
Road Q
Scotty Dean writes in with a right-turn conundrum. When you have a right lane with a solid stripe, such as a wide bike lane or bus lane, should you pull into that lane to make a right turn, or should you turn right from your travel lane across the solid stripe?
A: Tucson Police Sgt. Jerry Skeenes said drivers shouldn't use the wide bike lane as a right-turn lane, but it happens all the time, making it hard to enforce the law.
"Most drivers routinely violate these laws at nearly every intersection within the city and county that has enough room for a vehicle to pass on the right," he said in an email. "For example, at westbound Miracle Mile at Flowing Wells you will see 10-plus cars backed up routinely during rush hour using this area as a right-turn lane. A county example is westbound Ina at Oracle. That area will have 25-plus vehicles often lined up in the bike lane.
"For the driver trying to follow the law and wait until they reach the intersection to make the right turn, they would be blocked from their lawful turn. This forces them to follow the other drivers making the unlawful movement."
Send your Road Q questions by email to roadrunner@ azstarnet.com or to 4850 S. Park Ave., Tucson, AZ 85714. Please include first and last names.
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