My e-mail box is getting full and I need to catch up on answering readers' transportation and traffic questions.
I'd like to talk about a question from Melissa Bowersock on the walk signals at North Alvernon Way and East Speedway.
She noticed new signals there, which not only tell pedestrians whether to enter the intersection with the white "walk" signal lights or orange or red "don't walk" lights, but also feature a countdown next to the "walk" indicator.
"Next to the 'don't walk' red hand is a countdown of how many seconds until the light turns yellow. I saw this in Illinois a few months ago and thought it was a great idea, so I'm very glad to see it here. Is the city going to replace all 'walk/don't walk' signs with these?" Bowersock wrote.
I've seen these countdown signals too, and I agree they are a good idea. They give pedestrians a chance to see how many seconds remain until the signal changes. Pedestrians can use the countdown to make a good decision about whether stop at the median or go all the way across an intersection.
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Bowersock says the signals are also helpful for drivers.
"It would be great to think that they might lead to fewer red-light runners, as people would no longer have to guess how much time they've got on the green light," she wrote.
I agree again — don't they say great minds think alike? I've seen these signals in other cities. I first saw them in Washington, D.C., where I was strictly a pedestrian, never a driver.
The good news for countdown fans is the city plans to replace all of the signals with countdowns eventually. Though it could take a few years, the city will start with larger, busier intersections and recycle the old walk signals as they move along, said Michael Graham, spokesman for the Tucson Department of Transportation.
"These countdown units will be required at all crossings in the next 10 or so years under the new traffic manual when it is adopted by the federal government," Graham said. The traffic manual directs all transportation agencies, making signals, signs, lane markings and everything else as uniform as possible across state lines.
About 20 local intersections sport the countdown signals already, and 10 more are scheduled to be installed this year, Graham said.
Happy fall driving
Today is the first day of classes at the University of Arizona, which means we're officially hitting the heavy fall traffic season. The local school districts have been back in session for a few weeks now, and with university students adding to the mix, the roads are no longer as clear as they were in the doldrums of summer. The next big traffic change to look forward to comes in a few months, when our winter visitors return to hide from the northern ice.
A piece of good news: The Interstate 10 closure, which snarled rush-hour traffic Friday, was scheduled to end at 5 this morning.
Road Q
Question: "Why is there left-turn signals for east-/westbound traffic on Broadway at every major intersection except Tucson Boulevard, which has left-turn signals for the north-/southbound traffic?" Kenn Peterson wrote.
Answer: Intersections must have 100 left turns in an hour to warrant a left-turn signal, said Michael Graham, spokesman for the Tucson Department of Transportation. Traffic on Broadway turning left onto Tucson was last studied in 2006, and fewer than 55 vehicles tried to turn left in an hour. The 100-turns-per-hour standard is set because "any signal can accommodate 100 vehicles per hour on gaps and the yellow without a left-turn arrow," Graham said.
Road Runner
Andrea Kelly
