Website to signal end to traffic confusion

Down the road, Clark County drivers will be able to check their computers before leaving home to decide what streets they should avoid that day because of construction delays.

The UNLV Transportation Research Center is creating a website, scheduled to go online in a few weeks, that will identify every place that Clark County road crews will be setting up orange cones. The site eventually will include Las Vegas street projects.

Users will be able to search the site by address to hone in on their neighborhoods. Government officials will be able to search by parcel, Assembly or commission district.

At first it will be a tool for local governments "to better coordinate activities and to allocate resources," center Director Shashi Nambisan said. It should become available to the public later this year.

The website is only one of the center's many contributions to Las Vegas Valley's traffic flow over the past 11 years. The center conducts research and educates students with the goal of resolving traffic problems -- or at least addressing the issues.

Some solutions are as cutting edge as traffic lights that think or as mundane as what kind of paint to use at street crossings.

The center was established in 1988 as the Nuclear Waste Transportation Research Center to develop alternatives for the possible transportation of nuclear waste through the state. The name changed in 1991 as its responsibilities expanded.

The half-dozen staffers and 10 student assistants examine almost every aspect of transportation -- highways, pedestrians, mass transit, airports and air transportation -- with the goal of cutting costs and improving safety.

Crowded into a corner of the UNLV College of Engineering, the center has an annual budget of about $500,000 and has been involved in more than 70 projects for federal, state and local agencies and for private companies.

Funding comes from grants and sponsors, such as Clark County and the Nevada Department of Transportation. TRW Foundation of Cleveland gave the organization a $30,000 grant in September.

The center was responsible for requiring that bus turn-outs be part of future county plans to ease traffic flow and cut the number of accidents -- both pedestrian and vehicular.

"It used to be that all buses stopped in travel lanes," Nambisan said. "We established criteria for designing bus turn-outs."

The intelligent traffic light is a current project for Mohamed Kaseko, assistant professor of civil engineering. Using computer simulation, Kaseko and Mohamed Trabia, associate professor of mechanical engineering, are designing a program to test the theory that "fuzzy logic" could help traffic signals "think."

Fuzzy logic is a method of programming computers that would allow a signal to choose from a range of options when it receives information from sensors.

It could have profound implications for drivers. The traffic light could recognize different situations, such as an accident that is backing up traffic, and change its pattern to relieve congestion.

From what he has seen so far, Kaseko said, the preliminary study may get a green light. "Within about a year we should have a good idea about how to implement the fuzzy-logic technology for traffic signals," he said.

One big customer is the Regional Transportation Commission.

A major project under way for the commission is evaluating the most effective types of roadway marking and marker materials. The project may not have the technological excitement of intelligent traffic signals, but it is important for the county's bottom line.

"There are $16 million worth of (reflector) buttons on the roads in Clark County," Nambisan said. "About $4 million a year is spent on replacing the buttons."

Some markings last years, some just months. The study will identify which endure the severe temperatures and high traffic volumes in the county.

An even bigger ticket item is highways.

"Cost is one of our biggest considerations," Nambisan said. "It costs between $20 million and $30 million to build a mile of freeway, so we try to quantify the costs. Do the benefits outweigh costs? How much is saved in money and time? In pollution? What is the improved safety?"

To help officials make the best decision about which highway to fund, the center gathers information on every county traffic accident from the Nevada Department of Transportation. They are mapped and analyzed, and the transportation professionals then grade the roadways.

Freeways grades are based on the density of cars per lane per mile. Surface streets are graded on the average delay at traffic signals.

Traffic signal delays are graded A through F based on waits that range from 5 seconds to more than 60 seconds. Most traffic signals are set within a range of 60 to 160 seconds.

One key factor in setting a signal's timing is not the traffic, but the pedestrians and how long they take to cross the street.

That's one of many bits of information the center gathers and passes on to the local decision-makers.

"(Officials) use the information to decide if we need more lanes of traffic, additional traffic signals or to change the timing on the signals," Nambisan said.

And at the center, it's information that will help unravel tomorrow's traffic gridlock.

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