A couple of weeks ago, the City of Peoria released this information about the city’s traffic signals:
The American Public Works Association (APWA), as part of the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC), participated in the release of the 2007 Traffic Signal Report Card during a press conference on October 9, 2007 in Washington D.C. Nationwide, the report graded traffic signals with a D, which was a slight improvement over the D- that was recorded in the 2005 report. The City of Peoria participated in the 2007 assessment and received a B on the report card. This is an improvement from 2005, when the City of Peoria scored a D+. The City scored very well on several areas in particular such as maintenance and signal operation at individual intersections. Much of this improved score can be attributed to the attention that has been given to the traffic signals. Improvements such as LED signals, battery backup and attention to signal coordination have improved and upgraded the condition of Peoria’s traffic signals. The effort and work that has been put into traffic signals has paid dividends with short travel times and improved safety for the traveling public. With the completion of the I74 project and the shifting of traffic volumes due to growth, continuous attention is required to maintain the current level of traffic signal operation.
It’s unclear whether this grade was based on an independent audit of Peoria’s traffic signals or a self-assessment completed by the city’s own Public Works department. Regardless, APWA gives Peoria a grade of “B,” and one of the reasons, according to the city, is because of improvement in “attention to signal coordination.”
Maybe other communities have worse signal coordination, but I know I often experience poor traffic light coordination in some corridors, including Sterling (esp. the I-74 interchange), University (between War Memorial and Main), and Knoxville (between I-74 and War Memorial — the light at McDonalds/Thrush is especially bad). So I was surprised to see Peoria scoring so high.
Of course, this report just reports on existing traffic signals and how well they’re operated, maintained, and managed. What it doesn’t look at is the overall context. Are there too many traffic signals? Is that the only tool in our public works toolbox for controlling traffic flow? Are there intersections that would be better served with roundabouts instead? Could certain intersections have been designed to mitigate the need for as much signal control as they have (e.g., the I-74 interchanges at Sterling and University)?
It might be worthwhile to consider an even broader context. Is the increase in traffic signals ultimately a city planning issue, not a public works issue? One could argue that by allowing suburban growth that segregates land uses (residential separated from commercial and retail uses), we’ve created an environment that is automobile-dependent, which has in turn led to increased traffic, necessitating wider roads with more capacity, and thus more traffic signals.
In light of that context, I wonder what grade Peoria’s traffic signals would receive.
Within the last month, I had the displeasure of driving in a number of northeast-coast cities and a couple California cities. It’s really hard to be too critical about any sort of traffic activities (t-lights, volume, spacing, driving habits, etc.) in Peoria after that.
It is perfectly possible to build a town or large subdivision without traffic lights. Roundabouts !!!! Think how much electricity Peoria would save if we widely utilized roundabouts.
Kris — If Peoria is up against cities like L.A. and London and Tokyo, then yes, I would imagine our traffic situation would be an A+. And if we compare our crime rate to Detroit, it probably looks pretty good, too.
But I don’t think the idea was to compare Peoria to other cities here. Even if our traffic lights were deplorable and received an “F” on the APWA report card, it still would likely not be as bad here as traffic in bigger cities.
I don’t drive in Peoria very often, but am dismayed at the lack of coordination among lights. You’re almost guaranteed to stop at every light on War Memorial when coming in from the McCluggage Bridge. I thought that part of the I-74 upgrade was going to be a 6-lane WM Drive. I dread having to travel through Peoria to get to the Grande Prairie Mall.
I recently traveled in the Chicago suburbs on Arlington Heights road – a brilliant divided highway-like road with 4 lanes in the middle (two for each direction) and four outside lanes that act like a frontage road, with exits/entrances between the outer and inner lanes. Turns (even at stoplights) can only be executed from the outside lanes. A little confusing at first, but way more efficient at moving traffic.
The lack of efficient frontage roads in Peoria contributes to the “stoplight every 50 ft.” setup that’s infuriating.
I do a lot of city driving. My van required new brakes at 16,000 and again at 32,000 miles because of the stop stop and go driving in Peoria. My son who lived out of Peoria didn’t need brakes until 54,000.
Example, on University, there is a light at each end of the I-74 overpass, one at Columbia Terr, one at Nebraske. None of these 4 lights are timed for anything and the Nebraska light seems to favor Nebraska. The lights at Florence, Wal-Mart, and War Memorial on Universsity are ill timed also. In the morning, the light at Florence changes for no reason. The left turn arror stays on for 60 seconds when there are no cars turning at War Memorial and University. Then you got the Metro Center which is follwed with Glen Ave.
There are way too many traffic lights and if we must have each and everyone of them, then why can’t they be timed? They are run by computers one would think they could be. Also, what is the point of traffic cameras if they can’t sense the traffic? Might as well have an old fashion rigged timed light instead of the money spent.
This is just one street (University) not to mentioned why the Gale overpass needs trafic lights on each end of it. You already mentioned that mess on Sterling.
maubs – Please add pedestrians to your mix. How are they (pedestrians who live in Peoria) supposed to cope with six lane wide War Drive zipping cars through to Grand Prairie Mall – get in their cars or buses to drive to the next section of town? Peoria’s streets should not just for the convenience of the people that don’t live here and want to get through as quickly as possible. What’s the rush? And I find all the frontage roads on Veterans in Bloomington maddening.
Compared to comparably-sized cities in which I’ve lived, Peoria’s lights aren’t that bad. There are a few spots where I feel like they could be better-coordinated, but that’s always true no matter how good your scheme is, if only because traffic patterns shift.
Travelling on War has become a nightmare. I’ve travelled west at 11:30 AM and the light at Knoxville has had me backed up to Schooners. And I’ve left work between 6-7 PM heading east and have been backed up at Knoxville halfway to Sheridan. I think there is far more traffic on War now than there was just a few years ago.
Down University starting at a red light at Pioneer Parkway at 5pm:
Willow Knolls – Green
Miramar – Green
Northmoor – Red (as usual)
Glen – Red (I’ve never made this light)
Metro Center – Green
Lake – Green (this can be hit or miss)
War Memorial – Red (as usual)
Florence – Green
Walmart – Green
Forrest Hill – Red (as usual)
McClure – Green
Nebraska – Green (a rarity)
I74 – Red (payback)
I74 – Green
Columbia Terrace – Green
Main St – Red
Total travel time 15 minutes on the nose.
Too many lights and the ones at neighborhoods are too readily changed to red (for the major road) when one vehicle pulls up to the side street. Why can’t the vehicle on the side street wait for 10-30 seconds to let the majority traffic continue on?
Not debating the lights out by Grand Prairie on War Memorial or on Sterling by I-74 aren’t tiresome. The ones “in the neighborhoods” – like on Unveristy – is a different story. On a grid system there are at least 5 and usually more like 8 streets between the intersections that have lights. Stopping the majority of the traffic for 10-30 seconds not only allows the vehicles at the traffic light cross street to move onto the main street but also gives those on the other “in-between” streets a chance to get out. Without a light they would be waiting more than 10-30 seconds. Sometimes there are no natural breaks in traffic to let them get out – that’s what the lights provide.
What the heck anti-pundit! 16,000 miles per set of brakes in Peoria? That clearly is more about your driving then about the trafic! I live in Peoria and have never gotten less then 100,000 miles on a set of brake pads. I just put new pads on the front of my truck at 132,000 miles. If you need new pads every 16,000 miles I would guess you need to take a driving course.
I am glad the lights are not sync’d , there would just be more asshats speeding. Too many morons driving 10 or 15 over on university as it is.
“I am glad the lights are not sync’d”
In South Bend the lights downtown were synched but you had to drive 29 miles per hour EXACTLY to make all the greens.
I believe the speed limit was 35.
So the incentive to speed would depend on exactly HOW they were synched. 😀