Mayor Ralph Becker has forged a deal with the Utah Department of Transportation to see if timing the lights to favor one direction over the other will help. The experiment this summer will speed the northbound traffic along 300 West and the southbound lanes along 400 West.
"If that works well, we're looking at expanding that effort," Becker said. More streets could follow.
Timing the lights - and taking fewer complaints from motorists who keep hitting the reds - has been a goal of mayor after mayor. It's been tough to accomplish, though, except on one-way streets such as 500 South and 600 South.
The new trick will be to treat two-way streets almost as if they were one-way, and see if people like it or at least adapt, said David Kinnecom, UDOT traffic operations engineer. The test zones will be on 300 West and 400 West between 400 South and 600 North.
People still can drive the other direction, though they might not want to after they notice all the red lights they're hitting.
A motorist traveling northbound on 300 West after a light change can expect it to take about 15 seconds in traffic to reach the next light, which will be timed to turn green just ahead of the motorist's arrival. Then the next light turns green 15 seconds later, and so on.
The reason oncoming motorists won't enjoy the same breeze through the lights is that by the time their stoplight releases them as it turns green to accommodate the northbound vehicle, the lights in front of them will have been green the whole time that the northbound vehicle was cruising through them. They'll be due to turn red.
The flow works in the opposite direction on 400 West.
"We know how it will work mathematically," Kinnecom said. "The big question is, will drivers appreciate it?"
The experiment should begin in two weeks, he said.
Becker also huddled with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon in a closed session Monday to discuss how to time the lights across jurisdictions. The city, county and state each control roughly 200 traffic signals in Salt Lake County.
Becker's 2008-09 budget includes cash for updated signals at key intersections, which he says will help synchronization. The Utah Transit Authority also has agreed to upgrade its system that controls how trains navigate downtown lights, he said.
Corroon said the county also will use new technology on some signal timers to increase flow.
