Traffic Signal Timing In Midtown

[brian0123]

It seems as if the timing of traffic lights across Midtown change on a daily basis. Some days I can coast along Elgin or Gray and hit only one light. On other days (or late at night with hardly any traffic on the road), I get stopped at about every other light...staring at an empty road ahead with no cross traffic at all.

I know traffic signal timing around Houston is an issue... but it seems like Midtown would be the easiest place to implement a better timed/motion/computerized signaling system (based on it's grid layout) so that we could easily drive around our neighborhood without having to start...stop...start...stop for nothing.

Are Midtown lights just programmed individually by an operator who guesses when a certain light should change? Is there anything we can do in order to get the timing of the lights better?

[barracuda]

I would like to know also. The timing on Elgin is terrible. Some intersections are timed oppositely so that you catch multiple reds in a row. Some of the downtown streets have the same problem, such as Pierce St. The only good ones seem to be the major north-south roads like Louisiana and Smith. But the east-west streets (esp. in Midtown) have lots of mismatched light timings.

I guess it's difficult to coordinate, but I liked it better when the lights all turned green and red simultaneously on each street...at least it was predictable and you could make it through three or four intersections per cycle. Now it's completely random and much slower getting around town.

Edited June 2, 2008 by barracuda

[CSOM]

I appreciate what the downtown effort is... There are many cities where you can go miles without catching a red if you get in the right flow of traffic, because of the sequenced lights. I never understood the all at once concept that I'd seen nowhere but Hosuton.

I do agree though that something with Midtown is really off. I avoid McGowen at all costs. Gray/Webster or Elgin, though they can have their issues, usually are much better than McGowen, where you are destined to stop 5 times between 59/288 & Louisiana, where on Gray I can make it usually without a stop except for the occassional light rail.

[MidtownCoog]

Midtown lights were out of sync even when we had the "all at once" system.

Overall having the lights in sync makes it very difficult to change lanes.

You end up with a huge group of cars all moving along at about the same pace. You have to be a real haul-arse to move over.

[barracuda]

Midtown lights were out of sync even when we had the "all at once" system.

Overall having the lights in sync makes it very difficult to change lanes.

You end up with a huge group of cars all moving along at about the same pace. You have to be a real haul-arse to move over.

That is a huge pain on Pierce! It's almost impossible to get from one side of the road to the other without almost ramming someone else off the road or sitting and waiting for everyone to pass by first.

[midtownuser]

i hate the main street light. it's always red.