3 ms·

When you say "other forward looking cities" I say "every city in existence". Seriously, why isn't EVERYONE doing this?

• shiftpgdn 14y ago
  We have had this in Houston, TX for nearly a decade. They work pretty great if everyone is driving at the speed they're designed for. Otherwise you have to deal with red light runners, people parked at green lights texting, metro bus drivers parking their buses on the road while they go on break, people speeding and getting to the lights too early and people driving too slow. That said at off hours they're absolutely fantastic. You can make it through the city center at great speed. I frequently take surface streets as they can be faster than the congested freeways.
  • fnordfnordfnord 14y ago
    Right, it is still totally open-loop.
  • drone 14y ago
    I love it when they're actually in-sync. I'm not sure of the cause, but they always seem to de-sync after a period of time. I remember we used to have a set speed, I think it was 26mph or so, that if you held, you'd cut right through downtown if someone didn't get in your way. I'm with you on the surface streets, 45 at the Pierce Elevated (and 10 feeding into it) is its own little hell.
• bicknergseng 14y ago
  I did my college senior design on this. To put things in perspective, the city of San Jose, CA is currently doing a similar upgrade to the city's traffic signals and controllers at a cost of ~25 million dollars. While it is expected to save money in the long run, that's a serious chunk of change. The project (as government contract jobs tend to do) has also gone several years past its due date.