I couldn't agree more. Minneapolis, outside of downtown, especially, has the strangest and most frustrating traffic control system in the Upper Midwest, perhaps wider. I lived in Detroit for ten years and nowhere are there more cars. Detroit is about 3 times larger than the Twin Cities proper. All lights there are synced up for 30-35 MPH to keep folks moving along arterials.
St. Paul lights are, of course, perfectly timed. :-) But, except for some one-way streets, Minneapolis has us stopping at every stoplight in some directions and to make matters worse, Minneapolis semaphores are the longest in captivity - staying green/red minutes beyond their need. Every light in Minneapolis could be shortened by half and still move cars. Technology is such these days, that sensors could determine when lights could change if no cross traffic is present, automatically reverting to the usual time when traffic is heavier, but still not so long as to allow a short nap before proceeding as they do now. Spending a good deal of time in both core cities, it is greatly frustrating to cross over and spend interminable amounts of unnecessary time at lights where I'm the only car at the intersection. But Art is correct when he cites the defects as generating a percentage of drivers so impatient about timings that they rush to make the next light without considering the endangerment. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul -------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 11:19:25 EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Traffic flow and frustrated drivers A question for Lt. Reinhardt or anyone that might know. Is it my imagination or does Minneapolis do an extremely poor job in synchronizing its traffic lights so that the flow of traffic is not needlessly stopped block after block. I find the stopping every block situation in downtown and in other parts of the city far too often. I believe it produces very poor traffic flow, driver frustration, speeding to catch more than one green light, and inefficient fuel consumption. Can you enlighten me on this issue? Thanks. Arthur T. Himmelman Loring Park TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
