From the Roundtable: West Boulevard just one of many Columbia traffic conundrums

Poor little old West Boulevard; it’s appellation as a boulevard conjures up thoughts of anticipated grandness, harkening to the time when it was Columbia’s western boundary.

Now West Boulevard is just another city street that happens to connect I-70 Drive Southwest to a real boulevard named Stadium. Chalk it up to poor city planning over the years, but West never filled the role it should have been performing today as one of Columbia’s key thoroughfares.

Instead, West Boulevard is being used as a shortcut by drivers of heavy trucks, a practice objectionable to some neighbors. An interesting kernel coming out of stories about the boulevard is the vexing traffic embouteillage where it tangles with West Stewart Road. As early as 4 a.m. on a typical weekday, spot checks find up to a dozen vehicles lined up at the stop sign on Stewart waiting for a break in West Boulevard traffic. Most of them are trying to make a left turn toward Stadium.

We all have our favorite Columbia shortcuts. It reminds me of L.A. where true Angelenos know which “surface” streets to use as alternatives to crowded freeways in order to facilitate passage across the California Southland. Is Stewart Road (dare I bring this up) turning into an alternate route of passage to, say… West Broadway, where the traffic jams are even worse during rush hours?

Staying away from another rant about West Broadway, as I watched those westbound vehicles back up on West Stewart Road, poised but motionless, an idea popped up. Why not send out a survey team to ask each driver where they were coming from, where they were headed and why they chose to use West Stewart Road?

Maybe it would not be as objective as traffic count statistics extrapolated from a bevy of mechanical devices, but the supplement would compile worthwhile, personal responses from folks using Columbia streets as a tool in future street planning. I’d wager quite a few of those West Stewart Road travelers are looking for another shortcut, and there’s only one guess which street they want to avoid.

Another area of recent dispute involves red light cameras. But they’re here, and we should get used to them. Cynics see them as another way for Columbia to make some money, though their loftier purpose is accident prevention. One unintended consequence will be intersection avoidance. New traffic pressure points will develop, and perhaps those intersections will become candidates for these devices.

During this zeal to snap-shoot certain notorious intersections, take time out for a suggestion. Let’s make mandatory the installation of countdown timers connected to all traffic signals so drivers know when the light is going to change. The timers that resemble the shot clock used for basketball games look perfectly suitable, and they shouldn’t be that expensive to purchase, install and maintain.

Finally, here’s another revenue generating idea that would emancipate the police from their Providence Road overpass lawn chairs as they aim their speed guns at drivers on Interstate 70.

Call it automated entrapment if you will, but roadside radar cameras provide dependably heavy revenue streams where they’ve been installed in Europe. Oh, naughty me, a bad word! Sorry, we wouldn’t want to import anything else from across the pond though — and here’s a news flash — that’s where much of this camera enforcement technology originated. Based on what I’ve read, a string of, say, half a dozen automatic cameras dotting I-70 in each direction would tamp speeds down toward 60. The bonus would be the several million dollars a year in revenue that would come just in time to patch up all the pot holes and rough streets we’ve been complaining about. Great idea! And you can bet it won’t ever happen here!