Traffic signal news?  BORING! 

But, anyone that's driven any length of time in either of these East Valley towns knows one thing is certain: the traffic sucks. Explosive growth has far outpaced the cities abilities to widen roads and install traffic signals. Just ask the residents of Power Ranch who are faced with horrendous lines as everyone in the master planned community bails out onto Power road in the morning…

The East Valley Tribune reports today that our little 'burb of Gilbert is slated to get 27 new traffic signals in the next nine months. Cost to our fair residents? $7 million bucks. If you ask me, this will barely make a dent in the problem. Several of the lights are designated to replace existing temporary signals and others are set to be installed where the Town of Gilbert already employs off-duty police officers to direct traffic in peak hours. Having personally witnessed on more than one occasion an SUV almost taking out said off-duty officer, there's no question these signals are long overdue.

On a slightly different note in Chandler, the city activated the first of 16 "speed-on-green" photo radar cameras at the Ray Road and Arizona Avenue intersection. The speed-on-green cameras are not to be confused with red light cameras. These will capture your shiny face and license plate if you speed through the intersection; and if you're going 11+ MPH over the limit, the US Postal service will deliver your ticket right to your mail box. Some of these intersections will also have red light cameras installed, providing speeding red light runners the opportunity to pony up twice. Having recently served a sentence in traffic school, I can testify that if you get the double whammy, you can traffic school one out of the picture. The other, you'll get to pay directly to the city (and your insurance company).

Be careful out there!

[Note: click on the images for larger maps] 

[tags]Gilbert, Chandler, traffic control, photo radar[/tags]