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Signals to ease traffic on arteries

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published July 13, 2005

Traffic on U.S. 19 and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard is inching closer to a smart traffic light system that, ideally, would allow for synchronized green lights and shorter wait times.

The plan calls for about 35 stoplights to be outfitted with "adaptive control software" enabling the stoplight to count cars at an intersection and, depending on volume, adjust the light accordingly. That same software would then alert upcoming lights and ensure the traveling wall of traffic has a green.

Some of the project's most recent help comes from a $925,000 federal grant, $600,000 of which is earmarked to update and maintain the technology on traffic lights along the two streets for the next three years. In total, the project is worth about $11.3-million, officials said.

"We're trying some new software that we believe will do a better job of operating the signals," said Ken Jacobs, signal operations manager with Pinellas County. "We're trying to relieve some of the congestion that we currently have."

This fall, the county will installing computer software that allows the new system to communicate with lights still using the old systems. All those systems must then communicate with one of three command bases manned by the county, Clearwater or St. Petersburg. That conception and installation process will take as long as six months, Jacobs said.

The new system won't mean side street users will have 10-minute waits at stoplights along Gulf-to-Bay or U.S. 19, Jacobs said.

"When it sees there aren't as many vehicles in (line), it will start shrinking the amount of time that it hands to everybody, so it won't take as long to get onto the main street from the side street," Jacobs said.

The remainder of the project costs includes plans to install smart lights along portions of McMullen-Booth Road and south on U.S. 19 to 54th Avenue N. That project likely won't start until 2006, Jacobs said.

There are 750 traffic lights in the county. Those not converted to the new system will work with an older, slightly less-efficient system that involves humans going out to intersections and counting cars, officials said.

Congestion on both Gulf-to-Bay and U.S. 19 has as much to do with population as lights, transportation officials say.

What happens is that more vehicles line up at certain intersections than the intersection is designed to handle. That's because Pinellas County's driving population is expanding faster than the streets are. The new signal system won't increase road capacity, but it might alleviate some headaches in the future, officials said.

These new lights were already installed in Pasco County along U.S. 19 from Flora Avenue, just north of Pinellas County, to Main Street in New Port Richey. The next set of smart lights will run to an area just south of Clearwater. Those same lights on Gulf-to-Bay will run from Bayshore Boulevard, near the Courtney Campbell Parkway, to Hillcrest Avenue, near downtown.

Residents might not notice a significant change until next year, officials said.

"It's very hard to widen more roads," said Paul Bertels, Clearwater's traffic operations manager. "We're going to have to rely on computerized systems like this, and there will be times when even the computers can't handle it."

Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 727 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 13, 2005, 00:09:17]