Christopher Bryant asks: "Who's responsible for our traffic control mess?"
Well, Christopher, though I think there are identifiable mistakes, I think "mess" is a little too extreme. However, in the Public Works Department is a section that is responsible for city transportation. They actually WANT your input, and their phone number is 612-673-5750 . Alternatively, they've provided a handy email form at:http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-streetlight.asp. Feel free to express your thoughts on the traffic control situation. Operators are standing by. By the way, Christopher, time was when Lake not only didn't have the green arrow, it didn't even have the left turn LANE. Which meant cars were always shifting to the right lane in order not to get caught behind the left turning cars. For some reason Cedar, Lyndale, and a few others still lack the lane, but at least bad places like Chicago, Park, and Portland have it. Of course, that wiped out a few parking spaces, but every gain involves a loss of SOME kind. And if Lake bothers you, travel 26th and 28th streets where there ISNT oncoming traffic to prevent a turn! Pending that, I have an inlaw that engineered traffic lights for a long time. Every time I saw a stupid traffic light, I'd ask him "why". I learned a lot of things about the ins and outs of that. For example, on state highways, they don't pick winners and losers. They try to move all traffic. That means that they have to shave some advantage from one particular direction to move another. In fact, lights reprogram themselves dynamically, which means you can't "learn" the lights. Whatever speed works one day doesn't the next if the traffic alters at all. In fact, he said that it was heresy to move traffic one direction if it meant allowing the light duration to exceed a limit. I also am unsure what good a "study" would do. The problem you describe is too small to become obvious in a study of all traffic. It would only become noticeable if you had them study the speed of travel at the time of day that concerns you in the direction that concerns you. And they are really worried about the whole SYSTEM, not one small group of commuters. Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Minneapolis __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
