The Virginia Department of Transportation has adjusted the timing of 170 traffic signals around 12 major shopping areas in Northern Virginia to handle the surge in Christmas shopping, reports Examiner.com. VDOT also has installed eight closed-circuit cameras around Tysons Corner so staff can monitor traffic patterns and adjust signals as needed.
Comment: Hooray for VDOT. It’s way out in front of the politicians and the public. Improving the operational efficiency of Virginia’s existing transportation assets makes a lot more sense in many cases than new road and rail projects.
Questions: What is the Return on Investment for traffic light synchronization projects compared to the ROI on the road and mass-transit projects scheduled for funding by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority? Has the NVTA given serious consideration to additional investments in dynamic traffic lights? Or do we have to await the emergence of a “Big Traffic Light” lobby to counteract the influence of the “Big Construction” lobby before we start considering transportation-improvement projects according to rational criteria?
