Downtown Traffic Signals

[memebag]

I just got back from downtown. All the streets I drove on had the lights synchronized. It was great.

[sevfiv]

I was heading north(east) on San Jacinto Thursday and Friday, and I was able to hit green going about 30 mph (this was starting at green, not red - starting at red would probably be closer to 26/27 mph).

The only non-synced light I noticed was Pease, but it was just green and remained green.

[cottonmather0]

I am slowly coming around to these lights. I think some of my frustration last week had to do with my wanting to take the exact same routes to and from work that I took with the old lights; routes that were optimized with the old lights, basically zigzagging between Smith/Louisiana and Main.

I think the trick I am discovering is to just keep driving all the way north or south until I reach the cross street of my destination, then turn and wait at one light and then drive a long time again. Basically, instead of a zigzag, my route is now an 'L' shape.

Starting to come around...

[cnote]

The only drawback I can find in this new staggered pattern is when I catch the bus in the afternoon along Louisiana. It seems the old syncronized pattern was more condusive to loading the buses and now it backs up pretty badly....oh well, I know they are still going to iron out the kinks.

:edited for typo:

[abrahang]

they need to simply change the light back to how they were before they ruined it.

they were fine the way they were before.

[MidtownCoog]

It's a real disaster near Caroline/Jefferson and Austin/Texas and behind MMP.

[desirous]

It's working wonders on Travis. Everybody else can go to hell.

[Kirzania]

I'm sorry, but the entire grid is all fubar now. Where I could move through downtown pretty quickly, now I have to stop every 10 feet. Louisiana and Smith are by far the worst. Coming in during the morning, things back up onto the feeder onto I10 far more than they did with the old timing. Leaving in the afternoon (even at 4.15) I hit every intersection on the way out and the traffic is by far worse. Even leaving the parking garage is miserable now. We don't have the luxury of a Rent-A-Cop and it lets out onto a side street. I think my commute just increased by 10 minutes and I live only 8 miles out of downtown.

The synchronization sucks! If your light turns green, chances are that at least 4 lights in front of you are still red and will still be red by the time you get to that intersection.

Put it back the way it was!

[memebag]

If your light turns green, chances are that at least 4 lights in front of you are still red and will still be red by the time you get to that intersection.

How fast are you driving? When I did it on Monday, I was able to hit all greens by driving about 30 mph.

[abrahang]

i work at the corner of milam & pease and have never seen SO MANY cars waiting for the light to turn green ever at 5:29pm.

[ricco67]

There is a bit of adjustment that needs to be made still by the city AND drivers. We just need to adjust our habits.

I was driving down Dallas near Caroline and saw the light out of the corner of my eye turn green and stepped on the gas, turns out it was the NEXT street that turned green and not ours. Oops. I barely managed to avoid an accident.

i work at the corner of milam & pease and have never seen SO MANY cars waiting for the light to turn green ever at 5:29pm.

So how's tricks? Are you the one in high heels

It's working wonders on Travis. Everybody else can go to hell.

That's the spirit!

[Subdude]

It doesn't appear to have been a very popular move.

Houston officials are not ready to retreat on their efforts to improve the timing of downtown stoplights, despite some bad reviews from motorists.

Mayoral spokesman Patrick Trahan said Wednesday that the "cascading" or "progressive" system introduced last week

[Kirzania]

How fast are you driving? When I did it on Monday, I was able to hit all greens by driving about 30 mph.

I would be lucky to hit 10 mph in the morning or afternoon. Most of the time, I'm on the brake. My point was by the time you proceed to the next intersection, there are 6-8 cars already there that are still at a complete stop. They're still stopped because the light is red. If they weren't there, sure you could maintain a steady 30 mph (maybe?) and hit all the lights green. The problem is they ARE there and it backs everybody up. I really didn't see a problem with all the lights turning red/green at the same time because everyone would either be moving or stopped at *gasp* the same time!

From the Chron article:

I got caught at a red light twice, both times because a motorist ahead had been slow to move when the lights changed.

EXACTLY. There are FAR too many people in this city who just can't pay attention and put their foot on the gas. Multiply this by about 100 at rush hour.

[memebag]

I would be lucky to hit 10 mph in the morning or afternoon.

So the next light has already completed its cycle by the time you get there? That's crazy. It shouldn't even turn green until after the current light does, giving everyone plenty of time to get going.

The problem with the old way was that it pretty much guaranteed you would have to stop at some point. When the new way works, once you get a green light you can stay in the green light pulse as long as you like.

[musicman]

When the new way works, once you get a green light you can stay in the green light pulse as long as you like.

dont get on st jos pkwy because it sure wasn't working last night. west of main they all turned green simo while east it was a more random pattern. you saw the light 2 streets ahead of you turn green but you're still stopped at a red light, by the time yours turns green, the light ahead of you turned red.

[Kirzania]

So the next light has already completed its cycle by the time you get there? That's crazy.

Yes and no. Imagine if you will, looking south down Louisiana. By the time I exit, sit at the light at the feeder/HOV ramp and proceed through I see: RED -> RED -> GREEN -> GREEN -> RED -> RED -> GREEN, etc. When the reds turn green, the greens turn red, so this back up occurs. I always sit at the lights at Prairie, Texas, Rusk, sometimes Capitol, and McKinney (mostly because by then there's traffic backed up at the light at McKinney because they're all trying to get into the parking garage).

There is no way I could hit even 25 mph even at 4.15pm. Hell, I didn't even get to the speed limit when the old timing was in place! There was only a couple of times that traffic was moving at the posted speed limit just because I think most people don't even know what the speed limit is downtown.

[Vertigo58]

It's working wonders on Travis. Everybody else can go to hell.

Love that response!

and to hell with downtown, glad I don't work there anymore. Good riddance!

[abrahang]

So how's tricks? Are you the one in high heels

yeah, no.

there seems to have been an adjustment today.

the lights on jefferson off of the dallas/pierce exit flowed the way they did before the switch.

[cottonmather0]

Yes and no. Imagine if you will, looking south down Louisiana. By the time I exit, sit at the light at the feeder/HOV ramp and proceed through I see: RED -> RED -> GREEN -> GREEN -> RED -> RED -> GREEN, etc. When the reds turn green, the greens turn red, so this back up occurs. I always sit at the lights at Prairie, Texas, Rusk, sometimes Capitol, and McKinney (mostly because by then there's traffic backed up at the light at McKinney because they're all trying to get into the parking garage).

There is no way I could hit even 25 mph even at 4.15pm. Hell, I didn't even get to the speed limit when the old timing was in place! There was only a couple of times that traffic was moving at the posted speed limit just because I think most people don't even know what the speed limit is downtown.

I think you mean Smith. Lousiana is one way north.

What time of day? As I posted earlier, I didn't like the switch at first because I was trying to fit my old commute to the new lights, but now that I have figured it out I will generally get stopped one time entering downtown, either at Franklin (1st light) or at Preston (3rd) but once those lights change it is straight green all the way to McKinney, where I turn left and stop one more time at Louisiana before continuing all the way to my garage at Travis.

Sometimes it feels like I'm going to miss a light on Smith, but they always stay green the whole way.

This is around 6:50 each morning. I think it's possible that with more traffic, as there certainly is as you get closer to 8:30 each day, you might get stuck.

[memebag]

Yes and no. Imagine if you will, looking south down Louisiana. By the time I exit, sit at the light at the feeder/HOV ramp and proceed through I see: RED -> RED -> GREEN -> GREEN -> RED -> RED -> GREEN, etc. When the reds turn green, the greens turn red, so this back up occurs.

Then the lights aren't working as advertised. Maybe emergency vehicles screw it up?

When it works, you'll see waves of green and red lights moving forward. The waves move forward at a steady speed, with one red turning green and one green turning red at a time.

[MidtownCoog]

They had the Scooter Patrol (Mobility Officers) directing traffic yesterday and today.

They should just just set it back the way it was.

When it does work driving in packs of 20 cars makes it impossible to change lanes.

[Kirzania]

I think you mean Smith. Lousiana is one way north.

Whoops. Smith. It looks like same way going north on Louisiana too.

What time of day? ... This is around 6:50 each morning.

I usually roll in around 6.30ish. I should take a picture of the herd trying to move through the intersections.

When it works, you'll see waves of green and red lights moving forward.

Yeah, it's definitely not rolling forward. It looks now like it's rolling in the opposite direction.

[cottonmather0]

They had the Scooter Patrol (Mobility Officers) directing traffic yesterday and today.

They should just just set it back the way it was.

When it does work driving in packs of 20 cars makes it impossible to change lanes.

Yeah, I noticed that, too. You have to be a bit aggressive.

It also makes it easier for people to cut you off from one of the outer lanes if you do get stuck at a red. They get a rolling start while you're flat stopped. I find that pretty annoying when I establish position in the proper lane approaching a known bottleneck and still get stuck behind someone who "cheats" and uses the parking lane to swerve around me before they hit the parked car. Grrrr.

[desirous]

Love that response!

and to hell with downtown, glad I don't work there anymore. Good riddance!

I've still yet to encounter problems with Travis. Milam still isn't up to par though -- I usually segue over to Smith, which is better synchronized. Besides, the Milam Spur 527 ramp knocks my mental health with every attempt.

[gsutiger2]

I've seen too many close call accidents because of the lights not being synched. It takes forever to get out of downtown now in the evenings.

[ricco67]

it kinda' depends on what direction you're going in and from where. I can move across town in under 5 minuteson Travis or Polk. But I tell you what, Louisiana is STILL a nightmare, though, particularly around polk.

That reminds me, they just exposed the dock doors for the future Omni. I noticed when I had to veer in that direction when some idiot pedestrian decided to cross while *I* had the green.

[rsb320]

Alright, it's been a year. Will the city please admit that it ain't a-workin'? Travis was really screwed up this morning (I had already given up on Louisiana weeks ago). Why must we stop at every light? Smith and Milam are both a nightmare in the evenings. And, please don't blame Ike, that excuse has been overused.

JUST FIX IT! FIX IT!

I often think what visitors must think about the self-inflicted gridlock we have to endure in morning and evening rush hours. FIX IT!

(Sorry, the yelling is taken from an SNL skit.)

[Subdude]

Alright, it's been a year. Will the city please admit that it ain't a-workin'? Travis was really screwed up this morning (I had already given up on Louisiana weeks ago). Why must we stop at every light? Smith and Milam are both a nightmare in the evenings. And, please don't blame Ike, that excuse has been overused.

JUST FIX IT! FIX IT!

I often think what visitors must think about the self-inflicted gridlock we have to endure in morning and evening rush hours. FIX IT!

(Sorry, the yelling is taken from an SNL skit.)

You know, I think it is probably a lot harder to synchronize lights in a way that will keep every motorist happy than is generally realized.

[memebag]

You know, I think it is probably a lot harder to synchronize lights in a way that will keep every motorist happy than is generally realized.

I think you're right. At first I thought it would be a pretty simple problem to solve, but then I started thinking about how downtown's streets work. You have 4 different traffic directions, each of which needs a wave of green lights flowing down it simultaneously. I can see setting up 2 waves, say one moving south and one moving west, but when you have to introduce the opposite directions everything falls apart.

[OkieEric]

Alright, it's been a year. Will the city please admit that it ain't a-workin'? Travis was really screwed up this morning (I had already given up on Louisiana weeks ago). Why must we stop at every light? Smith and Milam are both a nightmare in the evenings. And, please don't blame Ike, that excuse has been overused.

Actually, Travis usually works quite well - since they've been working OK so far this week, I'd have to think this morning's debacle (yeah, it was bad) had something to do with last night's bad weather. In general I like the change... However, I have to agree with Smith and Milam being a mess. Milam would be a bit better if they'd finally get that lane open next to the XOM building