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Traffic control system gets the all-clear signal

 

 Pittsburgh Tribune-December 3th 2004
Pittsburgh’s traffic signals are inching into the modern ages.

Wiring installed in 1997 is only now being complemented with a modern computer system to run the signals so they ease the flow of traffic.

The city is years behind others nationwide, yet at the forefront of a regional push to spend federal transportation money to upgrade thousands of old traffic signals across Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“You can’t build your way out of congestion” with more roads, said Chuck DiPietro, the transportation planning director for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the agency that budgets transportation spending for the 10-county region. “What’s emerged across the country in the last decade is a technology leap. So how can you bring technology to transportation?”

One way is to replace old traffic signals with modern versions and link them to control centers. Traffic signal systems can be adapted to keep traffic moving by coordinating and timing signals.

PennDOT’s Traffic Information Center in Collier is even more advanced, monitoring interstate highways with cameras and instantly dispatching police and tow trucks to accident scenes. Electronic message boards warn motorists of delays and accidents.

“The most important way we can alleviate congestion today on our roads is to fix traffic signals,” said Pittsburgh Councilman Bill Peduto. “Studies show up to 30 percent of traffic congestion can be relieved through this.”

The city has been slow to improve its Downtown signals, because of its money woes, the layoff of the city’s only licensed traffic engineer and the lack of adequate computers.

“We could have a modernized system of being able to change traffic signalization throughout the Golden Triangle and be able to monitor what’s happening, but we don’t,” Peduto said.

The city spent $3.2 million in 1997 to upgrade signal control boxes and link signals via fiber-optic cable. Since then, about 100 of the city’s 610 signals have been replaced with modern lights.

But there was no central brain to control the lights. Until recently, computers were not as advanced as the systems they would control, said Bill Seiss, the city’s acting director of Engineering and Construction.

In 1997, the city faced a choice of installing a mainframe computer that likely would be quickly outdated or waiting for newer technology. The city chose to wait, Seiss said.

“Rather than waste money putting in a mainframe system that would be obsolete by the time we put it in, we elected to put the federal dollars on hold until we put in the modern system we’re putting in now,” Seiss said.

PB Farradyne, a Downtown-based engineering firm the city hired for about $1 million, is installing a modern computer in the City-County Building that can handle the signals.

The signals hooked into the system are Downtown, on the North Shore and on Carson Street, South Side. Seiss couldn’t say when the system would be switched on. “Soon,” he said.

The city plans to replace 28 more signals Downtown in a few years at a cost of $4 million — $3.2 million of which will be paid by the federal government, Seiss said.

The 100 modern signals the city has include light emitting diode (LED) displays, pedestrian crossing signals and left-turn signals. A modern signal costs about $150,000, including installation.

The signals networked into the computer will be programmed to operate differently during rush hour than at midday. They also have settings for the weekends and overnight. They also will be programmed for special events, such as Pirates baseball games.

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