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Traffic light.
Catching every red light on the route home from work may soon be a frustration of the past for Beaumont commuters, as city engineers plan to boost traffic efficiency this year and next by installing adaptive traffic signals on several city-spanning thoroughfares.
“Instead of doing a timing study, going in to manually adjust each intersection, trying to balance the needs between them,” explained Beaumont Director of Public Works and head engineer Bart Bartkowiak, “what we’ve done is identify corridors where we can put the adaptive signaling in, have the intersections talk to each other.
“Look at the timing, yes. But have those signals be able to adjust as the traffic changes. So, if you get a burst of traffic it can extend the green, not only at this signal, but it can coordinate and extend the green on the next signals down the line. The whole pack of traffic can move faster down that corridor and not stop at all the lights.”
Residents who frequent Highway 90 (College Street) have already benefited from the new traffic signals, according to Bartkowiak, who said the addition of adaptive signals increased traffic flow there by 37%.
“We put an adaptive signal system in on College from Hospital Drive to Dowlen,” he said of the system that would precipitate progress for other major arterial roads that criss-cross the city. “We have equipment in the boxes at those intersections, and those intersections are talking to each other. Using the cameras installed at the intersections, it’s judging the traffic flow on College at any given time. Based upon that traffic flow, it can adjust the timing to accommodate up to a 30% or 40% in average traffic flow.”
Drivers who traverse Highland Avenue, Gladys Avenue, Phelan Boulevard or Fourth Street should face more fluid traffic by next year, according to information from the Public Works Department, since those streets have been tagged for adaptive signal installations this year and should begin in June or July thanks to a $1.4 million shot in the arm from TxDOT – the city is responsible for 10% of the bill. In Fiscal Year 2023, the city plans to work on traffic signals down Washington Boulevard, Lucas Drive and Calder Avenue.
“TxDOT performed a brief safety evaluation last year on their portion (Hwy 90, which is College Street west of I-10),” explained Beaumont Roadway Engineer Brandon Belaire. “That resulted in lowering the speed limit and making various traffic signal improvements to Langham and Lindbergh, along with improving the roadway lighting.
“We have been wanting to implement an adaptive traffic signal control system for quite some time, but the cost has always been the main issue. So, we submitted that idea as a project, and it got accepted by the folks in Austin, but it would be split up among several years. Overall, the cost estimates are equating to about $30,000 - $35,000 per intersection, not including labor.”
According to Belaire, right now, each intersection is on its own and they can’t communicate with other intersections. The busier intersections have cameras that watch each street and can see if there’s a car waiting in the left turn bay, for example. It’ll then give them the green light. But if nobody is waiting to turn left, then it would be inefficient to cycle the light normally and make everyone else stop while an empty turn bay gets the green light, Belaire added.
“What an adaptive system does is provide a central hub that connects all the intersections along a particular corridor together and allows them to ‘talk’ to each other,” Belaire explained. “So, if the first intersection has a large group of cars waiting at the red light on the major roadway, it can tell the next few intersections that it’s about to turn green and they can subsequently turn green also, so that group of cars doesn’t have to stop-and-go. It’s a system that has been proven to reduce travel times and improve safety by reducing rear-ends which are common in heavy stop-and-go traffic conditions.”
In order to begin implementing the projects, the Beaumont City Council voted to purchase 10 traffic signal cabinets for $149,800. Belaire said the city has to replace outdated hardware or simply add brand new hardware to some intersections, so that they’re compatible with the system.
“Some intersections are fine, and it’s just a matter of updating the controller (computer module) in the cabinet,” he said. “But some intersections don’t have any existing cameras and the cabinet is tiny. So new cameras have to be purchased and installed along with upgrading the cabinet to a larger one that can house the new equipment.”
Better flow down Dowlen
Bartkowiak said TxDOT approved funding for adaptive signals at every corridor proposed by city engineers, all except one well-driven road.
“Ironically enough, they approved every corridor we sent them in that initial piece, except for Dowlen,” he told The Examiner.
However, city engineers resubmitted the proposal after splitting the project into two halves and received TxDOT approval. Now, adaptive signals will be installed on Dowlen Road between 2023 and 2025.
“Most people get aggravated at certain signals,” Bartkowiak said. “In general, I would say if they are having a problem at a signal to call 311 and tell us what they feel the issue is. We do have cameras in place that detect traffic, and we used to have ground loops to detect cars. Now we’ve moved to cameras. The intersections that have those cameras, sometimes they’re programmed not to activate the turn bay if a car isn’t there. If a camera has a problem, then it won’t turn the signal.
“A common complaint is, ‘I pulled up, and it never activated a signal for me. We’ll find out the camera had a problem, and we’ll replace it. So, sometimes we don’t know about a problem.”