From the Roundtable: Summer driving highlights traffic issues around Columbia

You can tell the summer driving season has begun because the nightly closings to repave portions of Interstate 70 have begun. Two westbound lanes of this splendid thoroughfare are now down to single file in the evening between Stadium Boulevard and the Missouri River Bridge while MoDOT performs its umpteenth surgery on the nearly half-century old carriage way.

So what if gas is four bucks a gallon? You couldn’t tell gas was so dear by the scarcely diminished amount of traffic that continues to flow. Obviously, other items in many family budgets are being sacrificed in order to preserve the right to move about freely in our precious vehicles.

What’s been noticeable is the increase in both rudeness and the diminished attention by drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists compounded by a great deal of anger, anxiety and public debate about the respective comportments of each party. The prevailing chatter these days ranges from various aspects of bicycling and its adherents to such traffic conundrums as that pesky light on South Providence Road adjacent to Reactor Field.

Why anyone would want to go bicycling in century degree temperatures is beyond me, but I love my two-wheelers nonetheless and try to use them as much as I can. Unfortunately, forces both pro and con have amplified this debate all out of proportion to its real importance given the scant percentage of activity within the total realm of transportation in our daily lives that the velocipede represents.

Transportation conflicts come from failure to anticipate the intentions of our road warrior confreres, and the absence or the poor application of mechanical devices such as traffic lights and signals. That seemingly troublesome traffic light on South Providence Road in the Hinkson Creek Valley that draws all the cussing isn’t going away, but has anyone risen above the fray to come up with a solution to the problem.

How about placing large illuminated signs activated by the signal, say 1,000 feet on either side of the intersection to warn approaching drivers that they can expect a red light by the time they reach the contentious crossing. These seemingly simple-to-engineer indicators remind me of a whole catalog of traffic control tools that the community still seems to be woefully ignorant of.

Going back to at least the ‘50s, communities began installing computerized command centers designed to administer and regulate traffic flow by monitoring actual conditions in order to control signals at various intersections. About the same time, communities installed systems that enabled emergency vehicles to control signals in their favor for speedier passage to their destinations. Traffic light synchronization is a concept almost as ancient as the signals themselves, which I will acknowledge has been crudely applied in a few local situations.

It’s surprising in a city as ecologically concerned as Columbia seems to be that steps have not been taken to make traffic flow more smoothly. More fuel economy and less air pollution would be the result.

The city’s most useful traffic flow tool was really intended for pedestrians, but drivers should treasure its utility. The count-down clocks that tell you how many seconds are left to cross certain streets are right on when it comes to warning when the signals turn red. Installation of these clocks should be mandatory with all traffic lights because it would cut down the much discussed flagrant red light running problem.

Also, there are the continued rumblings about West Broadway and the ludicrous notion that narrow avenue deserves to stay that way because a small contingent of high-wattage individuals has decided it must. To derail this potential cross-town east-west traffic nightmare could occur in a number of ways.

A member or two of the City Council has surprised observers recently by demonstrating the salutary ability to analyze a specific issue and then surprise us by voting contrary to the position they were expected to take.

Then there’s the initiative petition where the issue—pro or con—is placed on the election ballot after a certain number of signatures are collected and certified. Such a referendum would allow the entire community to vote on the issue, and we could put the matter to bed once and for all.

As the Broadway improvement issue continues to boil, here’s something to feed on: After much debate, the council earlier this year decided to widen Scott Boulevard to four lanes. Yet the same council and the city administration remain committed to keeping the disputed section of West Broadway to two lanes, furnishing the “improved” street with occasional turnouts at certain intersections.

I suggest it’s time for updated simultaneous traffic counts on both West Broadway and Scott Boulevard. Let’s see the numbers. Wouldn’t it be ludicrous if Scott Boulevard become a four-lane road handling say 10,000 vehicles a day, while Broadway, locked down at two lanes, is simultaneously coursed by twice as many vehicles a day?

Al Germond is the host of the “Columbia Business Times Sunday Morning Roundtable” every Sunday at 8:15 a.m. on kfru. He can be reached at [email protected]