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At the wheel waiting for the signal to turn green, Pat Diodato of Fairfax often thinks about the fuel that could be saved if the whole country coordinated its traffic lights.

It could also mean cleaner air, with fewer cars idling at intersections.

“I just grin and bear it. But it could probably be done, and with minimal amount of work,” Diodato said.

It certainly can be done. But traffic management is more art than science.

More traffic news

Road conditions change every day as a result of weather, accidents — even holiday shopping.

What helps? Real-time information.

At a growing number of intersections in Delaware, a system of traffic sensors and cameras is helping to reduce congestion and synchronize traffic signals. The data collected is fed into a statewide computer network maintained by the state Department of Transportation.

The technology at “responsive” intersections automatically adapts to road conditions, allowing traffic to flow more smoothly and reducing stop-and-go driving.

So when beach traffic on Del. 1 picks up in the summer, intersections between Lewes and Dewey Beach automatically respond to demand.

For transportation officials, controlling traffic lights is a happy alternative to widening roads or adding turning lanes, especially when the space or funding isn’t available. The state works with area transportation planners and consultants to determine which corridors are higher priorities.

Since 1999, DelDOT has been gradually adding intersections to the network, which now includes about 650 of the 1,000 traffic signals controlled by the agency statewide, said traffic engineer Gene Donaldson. He helps run DelDOT’s Traffic Management Center near Smyrna, from which signal operations can be remotely monitored and adjusted.

“Our goal is to review all signal timings in the state and coordinate them in the system, so you have the green, the green, the green and the green,” Donaldson said.

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/aU-tUrfygKE/High-tech-signals-reduce-traffic-frustrations

Though California’s high-speed train faces an intensifying backlash over its $99 billion price tag, political leaders from Washington to Sacramento justify the cost by touting another huge number: 1 million jobs the rail line is supposed to create.

But like so many of the promises made to voters who approved the bullet train, those job estimates appear too good to be true.

A review by this newspaper found the railroad would create only 20,000 to 60,000 jobs during an average year and employ only a few thousand people permanently if it’s built.

“They have a really hard sales pitch with the real numbers, so they’ve fudged the numbers,” said state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, a Chico-area Republican who is introducing legislation to send the rail line back to voters. “C’mon, a million people working on a 520-mile railroad? I practically laughed out loud when (I heard that).”

One million people — more than the combined workforce of San Jose and San Francisco — would have to cram shoulder-to-shoulder just to fit along the rail line between San Francisco and Anaheim.

In trying to win over a skeptical public to support the most expensive public works project for any state in U.S. history, Gov. Jerry Brown, the Obama administration, Democratic lawmakers and big city mayors such as San Jose’s Chuck Reed have repeated the 1-million-jobs mantra.

“The facts are clear: Over 1 million good-paying jobs will be created,” House Minority Leader Nancy

Pelosi said in a statement last week.

But state leaders, it turns out, quietly beefed up employment estimates. First, they counted every year of work as a separate job. So if one person were to work 10 years, that would count as 10 jobs. Next, they figured outside companies, such as restaurants and retailers, would hire two new people for every single construction worker.

Grand total: 20,000 construction workers and 40,000 “spinoff” employees — each working the entire 22-year project — would count as more than 1 million jobs.

In reality, high-speed rail’s construction jobs would lower the state’s current unemployment rate from 11.3 percent to just 11.2 percent.

“Job-years and jobs are like apples and Twinkies,

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/Ft7IV39kUNg/ci_19596037

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans on Tuesday escalated their case against the California high-speed rail program, with calls for an independent audit by a non-partisan watchdog agency.

Led by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, Calif., the GOP lawmakers formally requested a review by the Government Accountability Office. In particular, the congressional skeptics want a closer look at California’s ridership and cost projections.

“Allowing the money of hard-working Americans to be wasted on a questionable project with many unanswered questions would be an abdication of our responsibilities,” McCarthy wrote in a letter signed by 11 other House members. Ten of the letter’s signers are from California.

Because of the agency’s carefully maintained reputation for neutrality and thoroughness, a GAO study could effectively shape both public and political attitudes toward the California project. One way or another, it’s likely to become ammunition.

“As one of the largest projects in the country and as one of the largest job creators in the country, we realize this project deserves careful review,” acknowledged Tom Umberg, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board.

Umberg, in a statement Tuesday, added that it is “more than appropriate” for the Government Accountability Office to weigh in.

The GAO seems likely to heed the request, whose backers include Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, Calif., and two House committee chairmen in addition to McCarthy. Separately, McCarthy and other Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to mandate a GAO study.

One of the chairmen urging the GAO audit, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., already used his House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee position last week to convene a hearing designed to showcase criticism of California’s ambitious plan.

“The California project is turning out to be an additional disaster in a long list of projects touted for high speed rail,” Mica declared at the start of last week’s four-hour hearing.

The latest business plan prepared by the California High-Speed Rail Authority anticipates a $98.5 billion price tag over the next 20 years, more than twice the original cost. Planners anticipate connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco with

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/GyZgUfbEHNA/house-republicans-want-inquiry.html

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Governor’s budget proposal will pay to convert UW vehicles and construct a new filling station in Laramie.

By Trevor Brown
tbrown@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE — State officials are looking to bring more public and private natural-gas vehicles to Wyoming’s roadways.

Gov. Matt Mead and the Legislature are mulling over plans to invest more money to convert some of the state’s vehicle fleet to natural gas.

They also hope to create the infrastructure needed to attract business and consumers to adopt the fuel-efficient vehicles.

Mead proposed as part of his 2013-14 budget to spend $1 million to convert several University of Wyoming’s vehicles to natural gas. The money also would pay for a compressed natural-gas filling station on the Laramie campus.

“Natural gas in Wyoming is abundant and inexpensive,” Mead wrote in his budget address. “(These) vehicles provide additional opportunities to use this resource at home as well as in broader markets.”

The budget request follows a set of moves aimed at positioning Wyoming as an early adopter of the fuel source for vehicle use.

Last month, Mead joined the governors of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Colorado in a pact to encourage U.S. automakers to make more natural-gas vehicles.

The memorandum of understanding says the states will submit a joint request for proposals to buy natural-gas replacements that are comparable in price to gas-powered models as they replace older vehicles.

In addition, the Legislature approved $200,000 to retrofit or acquire compressed natural-gas vehicles during the 2011 session. This will allow the state to convert about 20 of its vehicles.

Rep. Jim Roscoe, D-Wilson, who sponsored the 2011 legislation, said he applauds Mead’s efforts to continue the push for more natural-gas vehicles.

But he said the state can do even more.

Roscoe said he is considering bringing legislation for February’s budget session to add money to convert state vehicles to natural gas and possibly to set up fueling stations.

He said the bill, which would likely cost under $1 million, could accelerate public and private development for the vehicles.

“Aside from the benefit of expanding our own natural-gas markets in Wyoming, it would also help clean our air,” he said. “But

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/WnAof_Z491g/20local_12-20-11.txt

KEENE VALLEY — Some emergency work to reconfigure Adirondack streams after massive floods during this fall’s tropical storms — done after the state decided to waive environmental permits to save time — may have gone too far.

Last week, the state Transportation Department returned with heavy equipment to redo work in Johns Brook in Keene Valley, and likely will be doing the same elsewhere in the Adirondacks.

The step was welcomed by conservation groups that had warned the state that a post-flood rush to change streams by removing boulders and flattening out stream bottoms was damaging the environment while providing little protection against future floods.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service later inspected some of the stream work and reached that same conclusion. Last week, under USFW guidance, DOT crews in Johns Brook restored a more natural pattern of rocks and an irregular stream bottom around the Route 73 bridge.

“This original work had to be done very quickly” after Tropical Storm Irene hammered the region, said DOT spokeswoman Carol Breen. “We are going back to some of our sites, and are working very closely with (the state Department of Environmental Conservation) to figure out how we can concentrate the steam flows in a way that will help the streams function better on a long-term basis.”

Breen said the restoration work is being funded by the federal government, which also paid for the original stream reconfiguration. She could not provide a state budget for this or future restoration work.

In August, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that because of Irene’s flood damage, he was suspending specific permitting requirements for road and stream repair projects that would normally be needed from DEC and the Adirondack Park Agency to get work done more quickly.

But in this instance, haste may have led to waste: USFW biologist Carl Schwartz said the reworking of a nearly mile-long stretch of Johns Brook around the bridge was both “gruesome” and ineffective as a method of long-term flood control.

DOT work was only for the 30 feet of state right-of-way around the bridge, while the rest of the stream was reworked by town or private crews.

“This

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/4RVo65jVt7A/State-s-haste-proving-to-be-a-waste-2416196.php

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Despite a slight increase in pedestrian deaths, the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety says the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Nevada plunged in 2011 and will end the year at slightly more than half of the record 2006 total.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday (http://bit.ly/sCFueI) that as of Sunday, 231 people had died this year in Nevada traffic accidents around the state. That was down 22 from the same time in 2010, and was far fewer than the record 431 fatalities in 2006.

Just 64 of the deaths involved alcohol as a factor, according to the report, or about half the 126 in 2008.

In Clark County, 105 people have died on the highways this year, down 25 for the same time span last year.

“People are getting the message,” said Traci Pearl, administrator of the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

She attributed the decline to more police enforcement, greater attention by motorists, less drinking and driving, and more frequent use of seat belts.

Records showed that through Sunday, 42 pedestrians had died this year in Nevada, already up from 41 in 2010. Twenty-eight of those cases were in Clark County, two fewer than in 2010.

Las Vegas was ranked the sixth most dangerous city for pedestrians in the spring by Transportation for America, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. It found 2.5 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents per year, above the 1.6 national average.

Reno reported nine pedestrian deaths, up from four in 2010.

___

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/sH14ZA-yLkQ/

New Hampshire is losing a substantial bit of federal transportation money, which presents us with an opportunity.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) operates the Recreational Trails Program, a big pot of money from which Washington finances transportation-related recreational venues such as bike and pedestrian paths. The money comes from federal highway taxes.

The FHA claims its funding formula contained errors that gave New Hampshire too much money. It is rescinding its 2012 grant of $677,000. From 1993 to 2011, New Hampshire received $12.7 million from the program. New Hampshire has used the money to build or maintain a lot of trails, including cross-country skiing trails in Canterbury, Hillsboro and Wolfeboro, a walking trail in New Boston and a snowmobile trail in Campton.

All of these trails enhance the quality of life for locals. But they are not really part of a national transportation system. While Washington spends millions on bike paths and walking trails, federal highway improvements such as the widening of I-93 are delayed for lack of funding. This makes no sense.

New Hampshire’s congressional delegation should take this opportunity to push for ending this program and rolling its money back into highway construction and maintenance, where it belongs. As they do that, Granite Staters should work to find private sources of funding for all of the nice trails we’d like to see criss-crossing the state. It should be Washington’s job to fund interstate highways and our job to build our own biking, skiing and snowmobiling trails.

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/VNis0y_Cm-o/712219985

From roads to the speeders who drive on them, Lawrence city commissioners have items they hope state lawmakers will address during the upcoming legislative session.

City commissioners are set to approve a list of priorities for the upcoming session of the Kansas Legislature calling for work to complete the South Lawrence Trafficway, higher fines for speeders on Kansas Highway 10 and efforts to establish a new sales tax on Internet shoppers.

City Hall leaders, though, would be happy enough if state lawmakers just don’t throw any surprises their way in the new year.

“In many cases, one of the best things the Kansas Legislature can do for us is to leave us alone in terms of unfunded mandates or changing laws that impact our operations,” said City Manager David Corliss.

Commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting are set to approve the commission’s Legislative Priorities Statement, which will be presented at a Jan. 9 breakfast meeting with legislators.

Among the issues included in the draft version of the legislative statement are:

• Maintain funding for the South Lawrence Trafficway. Funding for the uncompleted bypass project is included in the T-Works comprehensive transportation program, and the city wants it to stay that way. The statement calls completion of the SLT a “key” project for Lawrence.

• Higher fines for speeders on K-10. The statement says Lawrence supports designating K-10 as a “Highway Safety Corridor.” Such corridors allow the state to charge higher than normal fines for traffic violations that occur on the road. The higher fines then could be used to fund more frequent patrols of K-10. The idea of a safety corridor for K-10 has emerged because several serious and sometimes fatal accidents have occurred on the stretch of road between Lawrence and Johnson County.

• A Taxpayer Bill of Rights doesn’t seem right to city commissioners. The statement says the city “strongly opposes” the enactment of state-imposed spending controls or lids such as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The statement calls such plans “arbitrary and capricious” because they sometimes take spending decisions out of the hands of local officials. A Taxpayer Bill of Rights proposal puts

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/RzhdN56sjl4/

A Chicago area judge has dismissed a lawsuit aimed at blocking a
big rate hike going to effect next year on the Illinois
Tollway.

The lawsuit questioned the tollway’s authority to raise tolls
and asked for an injunction to block rate hikes from going into
effect Jan. 1.

Cook County Judge Rita Novak rejected both.

The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday ( http://trib.in/shAJ89)
that Novak said she saw no reason to believe that the Illinois
State Toll Highway Authority was violating state statute.

The lawsuit was filed in September by James Tobin of the
Taxpayers United of America. He says his group will likely appeal
the decision.

Tollway officials say they’ve followed all laws.

The basic I-PASS rate will go up to 75 cents from 40 cents. Cash
tolls will double.

___

Information from: Chicago Tribune,
http://www.chicagotribune.com

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/JRX34JPsUBA/article_12139e97-a70a-50d1-bff2-9c7de220b160.html

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State, federal budget proposals leave funding uncertain

By Trevor Brown
tbrown@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE — Both Gov. Matt Mead and the Legislature are pursuing plans to provide the state Department of Transportation with more money to aid the ailing highway system.

But it remains far from certain whether the efforts will be enough to meet WYDOT’s budget shortfall.

Mead is seeking $100 million over the next two years to boost highway spending as part of his 2013-14 budget plan.

Kevin Hibbard, budget officer for WYDOT, said the agency is thankful for the governor’s recommendation. But he said it still falls short of what the department is seeking.

WYDOT submitted a request for $269 million over the two-year period to go toward highway work.

Hibbard said that is the amount the agency determined is needed to maintain the system in its present condition.

Because of its current funding, WYDOT has abandoned many of its plans for improvement projects and shifted to a pavement preservation strategy, Hibbard said.

Under this policy, the agency is focusing on keeping 54 percent of its roads in good to excellent condition.

“WYDOT does not have the financial resources to keep pavements from deteriorating though, so the priority will be to optimize the dollars it has to keep the pavements in as good a condition as possible,” the budget request says.

“Funding in the past few years has helped raise the condition of road pavements, but it is only a matter of time before the traveling public begins to experience an increase in rutting, more potholes and crumbling shoulders on state highways.”

The Wyoming Contractors Association is among the groups lobbying to boost funding to avert that scenario.

Jonathan Downing, executive vice president of the association, said Mead’s proposal is a good first step. But the state needs to invest more now in order to avoid paying a greater sum later, he added.

According to WYDOT, for every dollar not spent on timely preventive maintenance, $4 to $8 will be needed for reconstruction a few years later.

Downing said he understands the need for conservative budgeting. But he added that it would be irresponsible

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/5OP4WpUw3Yc/20local_12-19-11.txt