Monday: Broken Arrow looking to ease traffic congestion
BY ZACK STOYCOFF World Staff Wrtiter
Sunday, December 09, 2012
12/09/12 at 3:15 PM
BROKEN ARROW — The city has turned to a traffic consultant to ease daily backups at two busy Broken Arrow Expressway interchanges.
An attempt to synchronize traffic signals on Elm Place (161st East Avenue) and Lynn Lane (177th East Avenue) last year failed to reduce rush hour congestion around the highway and has lengthened evening lines on exit ramps, City Engineer Thomas Hendrix said.
Broken Arrow now seeks help from Tulsa-based Traffic Engineering Consultants, Inc., which is a month into a three-month, $37,000 contract to study traffic patterns and adjust the timing of up to 10 signal-controlled intersections around the expressway.
“We continue seeing just major traffic jams,” Hendrix said. “We call it the nightmare on Elm Place.”
The combined number of vehicles traveling on Elm Place and Lynn Lane near the highway reached 47,195 during the city’s most recent 24-hour count in late 2011, while 20,063 were counted on the two exit ramps serving Tulsa commuters.
Although the roads can support those numbers, the number and spacing of traffic signals near the highway complicates managing the flow, Hendrix said.
Read more in Monday's Tulsa World.
Associated Images:
Vehicles idle in a traffic backup near Elm Place and the Broken Arrow Expressway in Broken Arrow. The city has turned to a traffic consultant to ease daily backups at two busy Broken Arrow Expressway interchanges. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World
|
