I have a complaint. I suppose it’s a minor complain, in the scheme of things. And let me say upfront that traffic engineering – unlike, in the extreme, psychiatric crisis intervention – is something I know nothing about. So I’m just wanting to start a conversation, and I could be wrong about everything.
But can’t we do something about these red light cycles?
I’m from New York, so I’m spoiled. I realize Long Beach is never going to offer the kind of motorist’s orgasm of watching fifty blocks of red lights turn green, with nothing but a dozen yellow taxis and the greys of Manhattan’s steel canyons as contrast. It won’t matter in rush hour – you’re not going anywhere, anyway – but off hours you might make it two miles without stopping.
In Long Beach, it seems one is lucky to go two blocks. Today on the way to work, driving west on Willow from Redondo to Atlantic, I stopped at every single light. The lights were clearly timed to make me and everyone else stop at every light. And this is where my ignorance kicks in, because I have no idea why this is happening, or whether it’s a good idea.
I told you it was a minor complaint, and it is. But maybe not so minor was one would at first conclude.
Emissions. Gas prices. Stress. The high cost of day care. These, and perhaps others I am omitting, are among the reasons traffic flow issues may be not quite so minor. Green lights are “green” – Al Gore green, and also Ben Franklin green. Save money, save the atmosphere. Stopping so often wastes gas, kills brakes, and adds to motorists’ stress. It also keeps them from their jobs and families a bit longer than necessary.
That is, I wonder if it is necessary.
I wonder if and how safety is fostered in this way. I wonder whether the light cycles were created for 1997 traffic flows. I wonder if the mechanics and gas stations in Long Beach have lobbyists. I wonder if there’s something I’m missing. Maybe I’m just impatient (I’m definitely impatient). Maybe there’s a good reason for it.
But maybe there’s a better way.
I know I should go see the chief engineer, who was mentioned by name in the District Weekly’s January piece about Brian Ulaszewski’s effort to build a park at MLK and 7th. Good piece, and it reminded of something important that’s easy to forget: Long Beach has a traffic engineer! Of course, if I had the time to see him, I’d certainly have looked up his name by now.
Which is why I wish they’d do something about the lights. Maybe then I’d have the time to go see the traffic engineer about doing something about the lights, or explaining to me why they can’t, or won’t.
Maybe he reads this column. The traffic engineer I mean. Okay, okay… give me a second.
His name is Dave Roseman.
Dave? Can we get some more flow, and less stop and go? We’ve all got somewhere to be, you know?
It’s a minor complaint.