Oak Park has this spiffy thing called an advanced traffic management system, which monitors traffic conditions at 40 intersections and adjusts traffic signals accordingly to improve traffic flow.
When the village installed the system in 2009 it was one of only two municipalities in Illinois to do so, according to village documents.
So, how come I always get stuck in a long line of traffic going south on Oak Park Avenue as I approach South Boulevard?
There isn’t a lot of traffic on South Boulevard near Oak Park Avenue. South Boulevard – and North Boulevard, too – used to be two-way streets.
Then the village made both streets one-way between Home Avenue and Oak Park Avenue. This prevented drivers from using the boulevards as alternatives to the nightmare on Lake St. to get across town.
But the length of the light at South Boulevard and Oak Park Avenue seems to me never to have been adjusted for the change. Hence, I sit in traffic on Oak Park Avenue.
But, sitting at stoplights is a fact of life for most Americans.
The National Transportation Operations Coalition, whose members include the Federal Highway Administration, studies traffic signal efficiency.
Its latest (2011) National Traffic Signal Report Card gives the United States a D-plus for traffic signal operations, which is better than the D in the 2007 report card. The grade is based on the self-assessment of 241 local and state agencies.
The timing of stoplights is much more than an annoyance issue.
There were 311,000 stoplights in the United States in 2011, according to the National Transportation Operations Coalition. The same study said traffic signals account for an estimated 5 to 10 percent of all traffic delays – 295 million vehicle hours of delay on major highways alone.
Better-timed stoplights would smooth traffic flow and cause fewer stops and starts, which would reduce air pollution and lower fuel consumption.
The environmental and cost savings could be enormous – just by re-timing stoplights.
So, what’s the holdup?
Well, the Institute of Traffic Safety Engineers states it costs approximately $2,000 to re-time an intersection.
So, don’t hold your breath waiting for America’s towns to re-time their stoplights.
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But in Oak Park, we have the advanced traffic management system.
So, how about Oak Park Avenue and South Boulevard?
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.