Page 10 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1980
t yiiRBORNE"i Local
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BRYAN, TX. 77801
I
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44
By SHERRY A. EVANS
Battalion Reporter
Worries may be soon over for
those who feel they are taking their
lives in their hands every time thay
step onto one of the four streets
which border the Texas A&M Uni
versity campus.
The installation of 14 new lights
run by a computerized traffic signal
system on Texas Anenue, University
Drive, Welbom Road and Jersey
Street will be in working order soon
and will help prevent the accidents
that have been occurring in increas
ing numbers there.
D.D. Williamson, Department of
Highways and Transportation pro
ject engineer, said the installation
project originally would have cost
$300,000, but due to inflation, that
figure now amounts to $754,000.
Williamson said the plan started as
an experimental project on Texas
Avenue five years ago. However, the
deparment ran into a funding prob
lem abut a year later and the project
was abandoned for lack of funds.
The deparment conducted a study
aiHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM»IIHHII|||imillHHHlHHHlnninmuiimimninniiiinmnini||mmniuimn|y around the Texas A&M campus and
— discovered the accident problem had
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grown considerably over the past few
year, which led to the rejuvenation
of the project, Williamson said.
“Most of (the accidents) were in
volved in the traffic signal area, ” Wil
liamson said. “We’re hoping this will
reduce (the number of accidents) by
giving you more progression on each
of the systems.”
Progression involves turning in
tersection lights green in succession
so that a car does not have to fre
quently stop at red lights.
John Black, College Station traffic
engineer, said the only funds pre
sently available for such a project are
Safety Improvement Funds — fed
eral funds given to each state high
way organization.
The highway department main
office, located in Austin, decides
which city projects are to receive
money from the Safety Improve
ment Fund.
This decision is based on the Safe
ty Improvement Index (SII) number
each proposed project receives.
Black said accidents are used to cal
culate this number, with a dollar
value for each type: fatality cost —
$140,000; injury cost — $5,300; and
property damage cost — $760. The
higher the SII, Black said, the more
likely a city is to get project funding.
Williamson said SII numbers are
determined by the estimated insur
ance rates involved in each accident.
Williamson said the reduction in
accidents must at least equal the cost
of the improvements. He said the SII
of the particular project was about
five, meaning the accident reduction
had to be five times the cost of the
improvement.
The SII numbers, which are used
statewide, increase with inflation,
and a project must now have an SII of
approximately six to get funded
when the required SII at one time
had to be only one.
Black said the computerized sys
tem works in three steps: sensing,
deciding and executing.
The computer senses traffic flow
through metal detectors, loops in the
pavement which tell the computer
when a car is passing.
The main computer makes deci
sions according to data from the con
trollers (smaller computers) installed
in metal cabinets at each intersec
tion, Williamson said. The control
lers act as fully independent traffic
signals under low traffic volume.
As traffic volume increases, the
detectors feed this information to the
controllers which in turn relay it to
the main computer. The computer
then establishes a traffic pattern that
will move traffic smoothly around
the entire campus perimeter.
Williamson said the system will
run on a seven or 10-day clock. This
means the computer can be prog
rammed for a normal seven-day
week plus three days of special
events such as a football weekend.
Installation of the controllers will
begin as soon as they pass Texas De
partment of Public Safety tests, Wil
liamson said.
The controllers are not passing
high heat tests, he said. They must
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be able to withstand temperatures of
up to 165 degress in their cabinets at
each intersection, but they have
been failing tests at these tempera
tures.
Williamson said the main compu
ter, which is due to arrive about the
end of November, may arrive before
the controllers pass the heat tests. As
a result, installation of the computer
may be delayed until the controllers
arrive.
Williamson said several old con
trollers from some of the intersec
tions may be salvaged and put into
use in other parts of Bryan-College
Station. He said the department has
submitted SII forms to reinstall the
old controllers to establish progres
sion at several intersections in
Bryan. However, Williamson said,
“We don’t know whether or not the
accident ratios will be high enough to
pay for the installation.”
Responsiblity for this project is
shared — up to a point — between
the city and state. Agreements are
signed by both, delegating specific
duties and obligations of each. Black
said the highway department owns
Texas Avenue, Jersey Street, Uni
versity Drive and Welbom Road and
the City of College Station must
maintain the traffic signals, street
name signs, pedestrian crosswalk
markings and police protection on
these streets.
Once the entire system has passed
inspection, the main computer will
be housed in Black’s City Hall office
and traffic patterns will be estab
lished according to one of four diffe
rent control methods:
1. The signals can be operated
manually and individually through
the computer.
2. They can be operated according
to the time of day. The computer will
select timings and program special
time-of-day entries.
3. The signals can be put on auto
matic control. The computer will
select timings according to the
volume of cars.
4. If the computer fails, each in
tersection controller will take over
and control traffic flow according to a
pre-programmed pattern based on
the number of cars that it senses at
each intersection.
_ Unite
CHICAG
dents’prank
sit) comput
businesses \
ity of their (
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Pouglas Ell
said Tuesda;
has the abili
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lake other
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that secui
Two you
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nd find ar
leach.
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Unite
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shard and
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found
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th of his
New traffic lights will soon be in operation at the intersedi
of Southwest Parkway and Hwy. 6. A peak hours of trail “Luther s
especially in the late afternoon, cars coming off SoutkN e - sai ^
Parkway form a long line and may wait as long as fiveminiil
before being able to get on to Hwy. 6. The new lights#
hopefully solve this problem.
In spite of the computer’s sophisti-
caiton, Williamson said, "It’s prob
ably going to take a whole lot more
attention to keep it operational than
the current system,
said he expects the new systt
tacted B
intosurre
y met in
ction Cen
went to
How- ' d shipp
handle traffic much betterii Lutherw
ake privati
present system.
MIXED DOUBLES
DART TOURNAMENT
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THORS., DEC. 4
8 .(10 P M
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h other f
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