BrandonTimes: Timing of traffic lights still a work in progress

Lane Ranger

Timing of traffic lights still a work in progress

By JAY CRIDLIN

They say Paris is the City of Lights, but there are days when it feels like Brandon should own that title.

We've all had days when we've driven down, say, State Road 60 in Brandon, and it seems like we hit nothing but red lights.

Aren't these signals supposed to be on a timer system so this doesn't happen on major roadways?

The answer is yes, though the system isn't perfect. Hillsborough County operates traffic signals at more than 500 intersections. Tampa and Plant City manage their own lights, and the county has an arrangement to manage Temple Terrace's.

Mike McCarthy, director of the traffic division in Hillsborough County Public Works, says that along major commuter corridors like State Road 60 or Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, the string of lights is connected by a single timer system in an effort to make traffic flow as smoothly as possible.

Let's examine Lumsden Road in Brandon. The lights between Lithia-Pinecrest Road and Brandon Town Center Boulevard run on the same timer.

During rush hour traffic, from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m., the lights operate on a 140-second cycle; at all other times it's a 120-second cycle.

What does that mean? It means you have about 140 seconds between the time a light turns green and the next time it turns green. In that span, you have to fit in green time for east-west traffic, north-south traffic, east-west left turns, north-south left turns, and a second or two of red in between to minimize the chance of an accident.

But not every direction gets equal green time. There's far more traffic heading east and west on Lumsden than there is on most side streets.

Thus, the public works department crunches traffic count numbers with a program designed to optimize green time at each intersection. They admit, though, that this keeps the lights from operating on a perfectly timed-out system.

"These are very dynamic and fluid things, because of the growing volumes of traffic and the growth in the area," he said.

As stoplight technology improves, so might traffic. McCarthy said the county is considering a new system based on adaptive signal controls, which receive data from roadside sensors and automatically adjust the lights based on the number of cars.

"We've done some improvement to our methodology, but we have a ways to go, and we're always trying to improve it," he said.

SOMETIMES, THE GODS SMILE UPON YOU. Sometimes, you can walk away from a minor fender-bender with only a little frustration.

Sometimes, though, you just aren't so lucky -- as this week's Axie recipient proves.

It's rush hour, and he's driving to work. Traffic is slower than a turtle playing Risk in molasses.

Just after 8 a.m., he yawns. Then he feels a bump and jolts up. He has rear-ended the car ahead of him.

A lot of drivers are good-natured about these tiny fender-benders, exchanging phone numbers without calling police to file a report.

But when the car you hit is owned by the Tampa Police Department, you might have a little trouble getting off the hook.

Yep, the report says the car in front was owned by the cops. That doesn't necessarily mean the person driving the TPD-owned car was an officer, but I'm guessing the department doesn't easily shrug off $500 repair bills, no matter who's behind the wheel.

You've got to feel for the driver. I can think of better ways to start your day than ramming a police-owned car at 2 mph in the middle of rush hour.

The driver didn't get a ticket, but he does get this week's Axie.

-- Jay Cridlin can be reached at 661-2442 or cridlin@sptimes.com .