Dear Mahatma: This is about the new traffic light at Oakbrooke and Kiehl in Sherwood. It was set for several weeks to flashing yellow on Kiehl and flashing red on Oakbrooke. Now the signal has been turned off and covered in black plastic. Can you shed some light?
- Oakbrooke Resident
Dear Oakbrooke: Shed light … was that a pun?
We dialed up Ellen Norvell, Sherwood’s city engineer. She says the light was installed, but there was a view disruption going west on Kiehl. Drivers hit a low spot and lost sight of the signal. The pedestrian bridge over Kiehl gets in the way.
Another arm will be installed. Parts are ordered but are yet to be delivered.
Until then, the light is off.
Dear Mahatma: I read in the newspaper that Metroplan will enhance and automate traffic lights around town. When they make these hardware and software changes, I strongly urge they add one more that allows emergency vehicles to change traffic lights by remote control, allowing them to pass through intersections with less danger to everyone.
- Wishful Thinker
Dear Thinker: For those who came in late, Metroplan will award five grants totaling about $4.5 million for cities in central Arkansas to install adaptive traffic-signal systems.
The systems will allow lights to synchronize with other lights in real time to improve traffic flow.
The biggest grant goes to Little Rock, $1.1 million, for University Avenue. The stretch is about eight miles and has about 20 traffic lights. A more efficient synchronization of traffic signals would certainly be welcome to the up to 41,000 drivers who hit that road daily.
We ran your thought past Jim McKenzie, chief cook and bottle washer at Metroplan.
He tells us that “distributed intelligence is the future.” This makes us think of boot camp, where it would be said of some recruits that when God was passing out the brains, they were in the chow line, although that likely isn’t what he means.
McKenzie does say that emergency vehicle preference surely can be built into the system. “Since you have brought it to the front of my mind, I’ll make sure we ask the right questions during vendor selection.”
Dear Mahatma: Remember when car makers installed little blinking lights, controlled by a little lever on the steering wheel? Drivers would use those lights to indicate a turn or lane change. Why aren’t those in vehicles anymore?
- Turning Right
Dear Right: We do remember … hey, that was sarcasm, designed to remind readers to use their turn signals, as is required by state traffic law, custom and common sense.
Discussions of turn signals always makes The Mahatma think of a 1963 Chevy Impala. The turn signals wouldn’t turn off when the steering wheel was straightened out. The signals had to be turned off by hand.
The car was sort of a dowry. It came with the girl in 1973. Impala long gone.
Girl still around.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/08/2014