Life At 0 MPH

Falguni Bhuta was my class mate in school (IES). Way to go Falguni !

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Life At 0 MPH

By FALGUNI BHUTA and BRAD SMITH

The Tampa Tribune Published: Aug 9, 2004

TAMPA - It's a little before 9 a.m. on a weekday and Al McMillon breathes exhaust fumes on New Tampa's Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. He's going nowhere - fast. McMillon, 53, is stopped at Highwoods Preserve Parkway, site of one of Tampa's 574 traffic signals.
It's a thicket of lights where a person can age faster than the signals turn green to yellow to red and back.
Too long?
``If you're short on gas, yeah, it's too long,'' says the Temple Terrace resident, who navigates the aggravating gantlet five times a day.
If McMillon thinks Tampa's traffic signals take forever, that may be only a slight exaggeration.
Just up Bruce B. Downs, the cycle at Dona Michelle Drive can drag for 4 minutes, 14 seconds - long by national standards, says Larry Hagen, program director at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida.
Once, traffic engineers say, two minutes was the maximum signal cycle across the United States.
Today, lights are longer for a lot of reasons.
Among them:
* Wider intersections mean pedestrians need more time to cross.
* More awkward left-turn lanes mean longer idle times.
* Yellow lights go longer to give high-horsepower vehicles more time to brake.
* Green lights stay green longer to move heavy traffic faster.
Hagen says Tampa's many traffic-slowing, left-turn signals and relatively few traffic-speeding one-way streets can make getting anywhere seem like a pain in the bumper.
Recent transplants from cities with better designed roads swear traffic lights in Tampa run longer than back home.
``If they can make them shorter,'' says former Massachusetts resident Katie Heaslip, ``at least you'll get the sense that you're going faster.''
The 20-year-old store clerk says she often wastes 10 minutes trying to penetrate the rush hour blur at the city's busiest intersection, Kennedy Boulevard and Dale Mabry Highway.
Traffic engineers say lights won't be retooled for speed without a major overhaul of the region's roads.
These days, Tampa's signal cycles range from 50 seconds in the off-hours at night to more than four minutes during daytime peaks, says Mike Scanlon, city traffic design engineer. Cycles in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale never exceed three minutes.
On average, at least one driver complains every day, Scanlon says.
Tampa's antiquated streets are part of the problem.
``There's not enough roadways and too many cars,'' which slows down traffic cycles, Scanlon says. While traffic has become much heavier the past five years, ``we're still dealing with the same roadway networks since 15 years ago.''
The number of vehicles in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater has risen dramatically in two decades. That means more idling time because of crowding.
A study by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University shows daily traffic on main arteries in the three cities jumped 69 percent from 1981 to 2001. At the same time, the report says, the average amount of time wasted in traffic jumped from eight hours per driver in 1982 to 24 hours in 2001.
``There will be times I'm sitting here for two minutes, and that's a very, very long time to wait for a light to change,'' says Sylvia Chapman, 48, of Lutz, as her car idles on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. ``Sometimes, you won't get through the first time, so you're there a lot.''
Computer Controls Lights
Traffic controllers are not making lights longer out of spite.
The length of a traffic light cycle is usually calculated by the number of cars passing through the intersection, detected by sensors embedded in the pavement, says Peter Brett, manager of the traffic service division for Hillsborough County's public works department.
Tampa uses a software program called the Metropolitan Traffic Control System to manage traffic, Scanlon says. Used first in the late 1970s and updated several times since, the system employs a central computer to control most signals.
Tampa is working on getting an updated adaptive system and traffic management center in partnership with the Florida Expressway Authority, Scanlon says, but navigating the proposals and funding could take a few years.
The city traffic control room, where Scanlon works, is in a 1,600-square-foot office in the Old City Hall building downtown. Six engineers, working in shifts between 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., control about 16 million vehicles each day. Computer screens show complex traffic patterns and television screens display major intersections through 360-degree-angle cameras. Twenty-two cameras at different locations help with monitoring, Scanlon says.
The software uses traffic patterns called timing plans that are programmed to change with the time of day, Scanlon says. Signals are adjusted by morning, evening, peak, off-peak, nights, weekends and holidays.
Hillsborough County uses a similar system to control its traffic lights. The city and the county have an agreement that governs which agency controls which intersections, says Michael McCarthy of the county traffic division. If a county road crosses a city road within city limits, most likely the intersection is managed by the city, Scanlon says.
County Wants New System
County public works officials expect to adopt a new system within a few years that they say will improve traffic flow.
The Intelligent Transportation System, deployed at various levels throughout the country, will use traffic signals that can communicate conditions to a central system through video monitors.
``They give more information on traffic patterns [and] volumes and surveillance cameras can observe traffic backups and change signal timings,'' says Brett, of the county public works department. ``The motorist on the street will see some relief during backups during rush hours, with about 25 percent improvement.''
Improvements will cost more than $30 million in federal funds, grants and impact fees.
Not everyone is annoyed by Tampa's slow-changing signals.
Chris Johnson, 33, who works at Signs Now on Dale Mabry Highway, says the intersection is busy, but its traffic lights don't seem too long.
``You don't see one side piling up traffic more than the other,'' he says.
Cindy Kane, 51, of Hunter's Green in New Tampa, says she doesn't really notice the signal cycle at Bruce B. Downs and Dona Michelle.
``It's not a big deal,'' she says. ``Three minutes is not too long.''

Reporter Falguni Bhuta can be reached at fbhuta@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7620