It is time to call Topeka’s experiment with “green light tunnels” a success.

The tunnels, stretches of busy street where the traffic signals communicate with each other to keep vehicles moving smoothly with a minimum of stops, appear to have performed as advertised and even produced an added benefit — fewer accidents.

Topeka traffic engineer Linda Voss said recently that she thought the tunnels should result in fewer accidents as a by-product of requiring vehicles to stop less frequently but that she really didn’t know what to expect.

Now she does.

The green light tunnel on S.W. 21st Street between S.W. Fairlawn and S.W. Wanamaker roads experienced a significant reduction in collisions in 2011. The tunnel of S.W. 21st became operational that year and traffic accidents dropped from 143 in 2010 to 104 in 2011. Among those, rear-end crashes dropped from 91 in 2010 to 62 in 2011.

Those statistics indicate that in addition to enhancing traffic flow and reducing fuel consumption — less time idling at a traffic light means less wasted fuel — our streets are safer. That’s good news for all of us, and our insurance companies.

The price of the tunnels was right, too.

Topeka in 2010 received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant of $1.24 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. The grant was used to install the communicating traffic signals for the tunnels and install some energy-saving street lighting bulbs (which have been reducing the city’s electric bills).

Granted, federal money is someone’s tax dollars, but the savings in fuel, C02 emissions, traffic injuries and auto repairs are an indication the grant money was spent wisely.

In addition to the green light tunnel on S.W. 21st, the communicating traffic signals have been installed on a stretch of S.W. Wanamaker between S.W. 10th and S.W. 21st streets and on S.W. Topeka Boulevard from S.W. 29th Street south to the boulevard’s intersection with the Kansas Turnpike and S. Kansas Avenue.

Voss said the communicating signals — more accurately called adaptive real time traffic systems — have been installed at 26 intersections for the three tunnels.

We had suggested earlier that if the system worked as advertised, S.W. 6th Street and S.W. 29th could benefit from some tunneling. No word yet, though.

Actually, the only negative comments we’ve heard from readers regarded the waiting time for those on intersecting streets who had to cross one of the tunnels. The waiting time may appear to be longer, but the adaptive systems are designed to watch for a gap in the tunnel traffic and let the side streets clear at that time.

But according to Voss, keeping the tunnel traffic moving will save an estimated 123,000 gallons of fuel each year and reduce C02 emissions by 191,000 pounds a year.

Add those numbers to the reduction in traffic accidents and it’s apparent the city’s venture into tunnels has been a success.

As Americans pay about $4 per gallon for gasoline, they’re wasting 1.9 billion gallons of it annually in traffic on congested roads, a new Treasury Department report says.

Traffic congestion costs drivers more than $100 billion annually in wasted fuel and lost time, according to the report released Friday.

The report — released in support of President Obama’s plan to upgrade and expand America’s transportation infrastructure in fiscal year 2013 — comes as Republican presidential candidates criticize Obama for high gasoline prices and his administration and the Senate wrestles with House Republicans over a new transportation bill.

The White House supports a two-year, $109 billion transportation and infrastructure bill approved March 14 by the Senate.

House Republicans are divided over a five-year, $260 billion bill. The House votes Monday on a temporary extension to continue providing highway and transit aid to states as the spring constructions season begins.

Poor conditions of roads cost the average motorist who regularly drives in cities more than $400 annually in additional vehicle maintenance, the new Treasury Department report says.

Motorists in the metropolitan San Jose area pay $756 annually in extra maintenance because of poor roads — more than any urban area. Poor roads, the report says, cost $746 extra in yearly maintenance for Los Angeles area motorists and $640 for motorists in the New York-Newark area.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says the Treasury Department report is “the latest reminder that it’s time to stop the partisan bickering in Washington and invest in our nation’s infrastructure.”

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, did not comment on the report. “We haven’t yet fully reviewed this yet,” says committee spokesman Justin Harclerode.

Other report findings:

•An annual investment of $85 billion over the next 20 years would be required, according to the Department of Transportation, “to bring existing highways and bridges into a state of good repair.”

•For 90% of Americans, the report says, transportation costs absorb $1 of every $7 of income.

The average American family spends more than $7,600 annually on transportation — more than it spends on food and twice what it spends on out-of-pocket health care costs, according to the report.

•During the past 15 years, there was a sharp increase in transit system ridership from nearly 8 billion in 1996 to 10.4 billion in 2011.

A main factor in the growth was increased ridership in heavy and light rail, which had a combined ridership growth of more than 70%.

•America invests less in transportation infrastructure than other countries.

The United States spends about 2% of the gross domestic product on infrastructure. China, India and Europe spend about 9%, 8% and 5% of GDP, respectively, on infrastructure.

ST. LOUIS, April 12, 2012 – Ernst & Young LLP today announced the finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award in the Central Midwest. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Award winners will be announced at a special gala on June 5, 2012 at The Sheraton Overland Park Hotel in Kansas City, Kansas.

The finalists are:

Steve Lasky — Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc., Ames, IA
David Karandish — Answers, St. Louis, MO
John Eulich — ASPEQ Holdings, Inc., St. Louis, MO
Len Rodman — Black & Veatch, Overland Park, KS
Cory Wiedel and Ryan Zink — Complete Nutrition, Omaha, NE
Benny Lee — Duracomm Corp., Kansas City, MO
Patrick Perry — Genesys, Kansas City, MO
Dawn Ainger — Genova Technologies, Cedar Rapids, IA
Greg Gragg — Gragg Advertising, Kansas City, MO
Mark Rutter — GROUP360 Worldwide, St. Louis, MO
Joseph Melookaran, Mithra Amaran, David Brown, Raqib Huq, and Maria Will — JMA Information Technology, Overland Park, KS
Steve Carter — Knight Hawk Coal, LLC, Percy, IL
Kyle Krause — Kum & Go, L.C., West Des Moines, IA
Greg Brown — Learfield Communications, Inc., Jefferson City, MO
Larry Potterfield — MidwayUSA, Columbia, MO
Matt Miller — MobileDemand, Hiawatha, IA
Harry Herington — NIC Inc., Olathe, KS
Mary Quass — NRG Media, LLC, Cedar Rapids, IA
Robert Low — Prime, Inc., Springfield, MO
Jeff Stroburg and Daniel Oh — Renewable Energy Group, Ames, IA
Reggie Chandra — Rhythm Engineering, Lenexa, KS
Tom Kalishman and Jerry Shaw — SAK Construction, LLC, O’Fallon, MO
Lee Frickey — Sizewise, Kansas City, MO
Michael Vasquez — St. Gregory Centers, Inc., Des Moines, IA
Mike O’Neill, John Nickel, and Kevin Quigley — Switch: Liberate Your Brand, St. Louis, MO
David Faber — Trans Ova Genetics, Sioux Center, IA
Dan Reed — UnitedLex Corporation, Overland Park, KS
Doug Schukar — USA Mortgage, St. Louis, MO
Brant Bukowsky and Brock Bukowsky — Veterans United Home Loans, Columbia, MO
Jon Cook — VML, Kansas City, MO
Seth Burgett — Yurbuds Sport Earphones, St. Louis, MO

Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year Program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 17, 2012. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum®, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the United States by SAP America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In the Central Midwest, sponsors include Armstrong Teasdale, Enterprise Bank & Trust, Faegre Baker Daniels, Lockton Companies, and Stinson Morrison Hecker.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year®
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential. Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com .

The installation of “green light tunnels” along a mile-long stretch of S.W. 21st apparently has helped significantly decrease traffic accidents, says city traffic engineer Linda Voss.

Topeka city officials announced in February 2011 that they had installed traffic signals that can communicate with each other to coordinate traffic and reduce delays on S.W. 21st between S.W. Fairlawn and Wanamaker roads.

The system, InSync, was invented by Rhythm Engineering in Lenexa. It uses adaptive traffic signals equipped with cameras and processors, which can communicate in real time, to change the lights as necessary to keep motorists moving with fewer stops, thus reducing travel time and energy consumption.

Voss said in an email this week that in her initial analysis before installing the system, she couldn’t help but think that if the city decreased the number of stops, it also would lower the number of crashes on that stretch of street.

“It appears that is the case,” she wrote. “In 2009 we had a total of 141 crashes with 86 being rear-end. In 2010 we had a total of 143 crashes with 91 being rear-end. In 2011 we had a total of 104 crashes — 62 were rear-end.”

The decrease in stops also has meant reductions in gasoline burned and carbon monoxide emissions along that stretch, Voss wrote.

“The energy savings were staggering with an estimated savings of 191,000 pounds of CO2 and 123,000 gallons of gasoline each year,” her email said. “I know that does not sound possible but when you consider each car saves 0.019 gallons of gasoline, it adds up.”

City spokesman David Bevens said the city finds those results “exciting and promising.”

The city installed the real time adaptive traffic signal system along S.W. 21st more than a year ago, then installed such a system about a year ago on S.W. Wanamaker between S.W. 10th and 21st streets.

Voss said the city most recently installed such a system about a month ago on S.W. Topeka Boulevard between S.W. 29th Street and the point where Topeka Boulevard intersects with S. Kansas Avenue and an entrance to the Kansas Turnpike.

Voss wrote that the processors and the cameras involved in the adaptive system “talk” to each other and are able to change timings based on real time data.

She added: “As part of this system you may have noticed what traffic engineers call ‘lead/lag’ left turn phasing. At the locations that have protected only left turn phasing (you can turn only on a green arrow) you may receive the arrow at the beginning of the thru traffic phase (lead) or at the end of the thru traffic phase (lag). This is done to improve capacity.”

Voss said the lead/lag traffic signals use the information they collect to “decide” whether through traffic gets to go first or left-turn traffic gets to go first.

Voss said the city has adaptive real time traffic systems at 26 intersections along the three arterials where it has been put in place, with about half of those crossings having lead/lag left turn phasing.

The lead/lag phasing also is present at S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road, she said.

Voss said city officials hope to receive a federal grant through the Kansas Department of Transportation that would also enable them to install an adaptive real time system with lead/lag phasing on S.W. Gage Boulevard between S.W. 10th and 29th streets.

American City and County
Mar. 21, 2012

• Project: Adaptive traffic control
• Jurisdiction: Grapevine, Texas
• Agency: Public Works Department
• Vendor: Lenexa, Kan.-based Rhythm Engineering
• Date completed: June 2011
• Cost: $1.5 million

Although fewer than 50,000 people live in Grapevine, Texas, more than 300,000 drivers pass through it each day on their way to and from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Freeway accidents, road construction, shopping centers and events in the area make traffic volume on Grapevine’s arterial corridors highly variable. Unpredictable traffic surges make driving stressful for commuters and pose a big challenge to the city’s traffic engineering department.

To improve driving conditions, city engineers considered retiming the traffic signals but eventually decided instead to implement InSync adaptive traffic control from Lenexa, Kan.-based Rhythm Engineering. “We wanted a long-term solution rather than a short-term solution that would have to be redone every three to five years,” says Mike Pacelli, transportation manager for the city.

In July 2010, the city started installing InSync at 52 intersections, representing 90 percent of the city’s signals. At each intersection, the system includes IP digital cameras that connect to a processor inside the traffic cabinet that communicates to the signal controller. The technology counts vehicles passing through the intersection and adapts the signal timing to match actual demand. When and for how long green lights are served changes based on the number of cars present and how long they have waited at a red light. Several intersections can be synchronized so drivers get green lights as often as possible on a busy corridor. The signals also can be configured, monitored and managed through a web page using a standard browser.

According to data collected by Dallas-based Lee Engineering, the system has reduced traffic stops by up to 85 percent and has reduced travel time for motorists by up to 42 percent. “It operates with the intention of always keeping vehicles moving,” Pacelli says. “With traditional signal coordination, vehicles can wait at a red light, and traffic gets backed up when no one is using the green light on the main street. This system always keeps someone moving, and it does, therefore, make the intersections appear to be more effectively used and waste less time.”