Stop Lights

[oakhollow]

Does anyone else get extremely frustrated with stop lights in OKC? It seems like none of them are synced with each other. I lived in Deep Deuce, moved out two weeks ago, and its crazy how bad those stop lights are. When one light turns green, the other is always red. I was driving by Chesapeake yesterday and same deal.

[Thunder]

They were rolling out new technology to sync all those lights. As usual, OKC has been extremely slow with the updates. My guess it will be a few years before you actually start noticing the amazing progress.

[OKCisOK4me]

If you actually plan a trip accordingly for a particular distance, factoring in crazy drivers, untimely stoplights, time for being early for where ever you're headed, you can make it there on time. Honest. I do it every day. Time a light if you get a chance. At most, you're sitting there for 1 1/2 minutes tops. It's really not that bad, you're just impatient.

[dankrutka]

I've never noticed a problem with the lights in OKC. Weird.

[bombermwc]

They piss the crap out of me all the time. You get a green light and cross a highway only to get to the other side and it turns red just as you get to it. They add lights for intersections and don't add turn lanes for those lights. It's amazing how they can do such a good job in one area...say the 240 underpasses, and such a poor job on a much more simple stretch like Sonner from 240 to 44th.

[Jim Kyle]

Fifty years ago, the lights throughout downtown were synchronized. If you drove at a constant 20 MPH and hit one on green, all the rest would be green for you so long as you were driving the same direction on the same street. Unfortunately, if you hit one on red, all the rest would be red as well. And once you turned a corner you might be out of sync again.

It was all controlled by circuitry located at the main fire station in the downtown area.

Then urban renewal appeared, the downtown area was mostly razed, and the fancy sync circuits became history. The rise of treadle-controlled lights didn't help, either, since by definition they aren't controlled from a remote location. Personally I prefer having the lights controlled by the sensors embedded in the pavement as most are today, rather than being forced to wait a full minute at each intersection because I'm not in the sync pattern!

[Thunder]

Yeah, I get pissed with the lights on both side of I-40 underpass on 15th street in Del City. When one light says go, the next light says stop. C'mon, the first light said go for a reason. Its been years and Del City still have not fix it.

[Lurker34]

Is it just me or do all the lights around Wal-Mart favor WalMart traffic. I've seen them back up 2 miles of cars to let 3 cars out of WalMart's parking lot. Does WalMart pay for these lights? and if so are they in control of them?

[SkyWestOKC]

Lights use an extremely simple, compared to a human brain, logic system. Many intersections do have priorities or a bias to a certain traffic flow, set up as a part of that logic. Lately, it has been getting increasingly worse, it seems. Or my luck in getting green lights is terrible right now.

For example, on south Penn south of I-240, Penn Ave. has the intersection priority. It will have the longest green lights, longest left-turn lane duration, and more tendency to stop perpendicular traffic in favor of north/south traffic.

The lights on the I-240 underpasses (Penn, Western, May, etc.) are great. They are timed perfectly, and those lights have a maximum red light time in any given direction of 2 minutes.

[Larry OKC]

If you actually plan a trip accordingly for a particular distance, factoring in crazy drivers, untimely stoplights, time for being early for where ever you're headed, you can make it there on time. Honest. I do it every day. Time a light if you get a chance. At most, you're sitting there for 1 1/2 minutes tops. It's really not that bad, you're just impatient.

If you are talking about 1 or 2 lights, then I would agree but if you are hitting multiples, that 1.5 minutes adds up quickly

[bucktalk]

I've often wondered how much fuel America wastes in a given day simply because the traffic lights seldom operate with traffic flow. We all probably waste a tank of gas every other month sitting at a red light for far too long because the lights are not set properly!!!!

[bombermwc]

29th and Sooner is suck-city. You'll see the Sooner traffic stay green for a full minute with no one even over there (and a 2nd turn light from southbound sooner to east bound 29th)...while the 29th side traffic backs up for a full 1/4 mile. It's supid flow like this that needs to be corrected (granted that's MWC/DC). But that issue is replicated anywhere in town.

I've often said take a cue from New Orleans' Canal Street. There's a full stop light every block or 2 with a trolley line down the middle. The entire system is synced so you get all red or all green. But it's also done in a way that you actually get a good distance down the road with each light. So even if you time it for all green or all red, it's not like you're going to be stuck with that. It has enough lights built into it that you won't ever get stuck at every red light.

[Snowman]

If you actually plan a trip accordingly for a particular distance, factoring in crazy drivers, untimely stoplights, time for being early for where ever you're headed, you can make it there on time. Honest. I do it every day. Time a light if you get a chance. At most, you're sitting there for 1 1/2 minutes tops. It's really not that bad, you're just impatient.

When you are not hitting lights green going down a stretch of road better than random chance the system is annoying. More so when you hit more than three red in a row in which no drivers or other factors in progressing between and you are on the road that is more likely to have priority than the ones it intersects. It is not a major issue but it is a failing of a system to efficiently distribute people around the city, which is one of the primary reasons why millions are spent on streets every year.

[rcjunkie]

I've often wondered how much fuel America wastes in a given day simply because the traffic lights seldom operate with traffic flow. We all probably waste a tank of gas every other month sitting at a red light for far too long because the lights are not set properly!!!!

If you set for a few minutes a day at stop lights, and your car gets at least 20 miles per gallon, it would take more than 6 months to waste (burn a tank of gas).

[OKCisOK4me]

When you are not hitting lights green going down a stretch of road better than random chance the system is annoying. More so when you hit more than three red in a row in which no drivers or other factors in progressing between and you are on the road that is more likely to have priority than the ones it intersects. It is not a major issue but it is a failing of a system to efficiently distribute people around the city, which is one of the primary reasons why millions are spent on streets every year.

Avoid those mega intersections then. I don't ever deal with Memorial/Penn for example. I can live my life and survive without dealing with that nonsense.

[Larry OKC]

I've often wondered how much fuel America wastes in a given day simply because the traffic lights seldom operate with traffic flow. We all probably waste a tank of gas every other month sitting at a red light for far too long because the lights are not set properly!!!!

Studies have been done that support what you are saying. That being the underlying rational for syncing the systems. Now if it is a tank every other month or every 6 months, when multiplied by the number of cars on the road, the amount of gas and money spent on that gas is astounding.

[Edgemererobin]

I remember when they were synced. My mom would take me down to Capital Hill to see her aunt, then we would drive back up Walker. At the right speed, you just hit green after green all the way back to the north side.
Current nightmare that is getting worse: Garth Brooks Blvd. from Vandament to 10th street in Yukon. Very poor planning.