By PAM BRUZAN

A simple process, but speed and bargains are not included in the procedure

How to get a traffic light installed:
The story of how one village did it

FAST AND inexpensive it's not. But acquiring a traffic signal is as basic as:

ONE: establishing the need. TWO: designing plans and letting bids.

THREE: waiting.
Rochester, Illinois, a small community about five miles southeast of Springfield, is now waiting for final adjustment of its newly installed traffic control signal. In September 1972 a group of citizens met with Village and State officials to request installation of a signal at the intersection of a Village street and the four lanes of Illinois Route 29, located in front of the Rochester school grounds.

Robert Wire, a registered professional engineer who was involved in the project, explained the general procedures for acquiring traffic signals. He works for Crawford, Murphy, & Tilly, Inc., the Springfield firm of consulting engineers hired by Rochester.

Illinois and most other states. Wire explained, have adopted almost intact the U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways. Following these guidelines, consulting engineers and State officials determine the need for and the basic design of traffic signals. Wire explained that almost any group, including citizen groups, may pursue such. a project. However, he recommended that local municipality, county or township officials support the request.

Justifying a signal
There are several traffic situations which warrant the installation of a signal. Justification can be based on heavy traffic, delays to traffic from side streets, or pedestrian difficulties in crossing a street. A signal may also be installed at heavily used school crossings, repeated accident locations, areas of heavy traffic flow, or at a site for a combination of these reasons. The combination of reasons and accident experience is hard to prove, Wire advises. Even fatal accidents do not always justify signal installation.

Rochester's request was found to be warranted as a school crossing site after the State Department of Transportation studied the area, Local governments may also hire consulting engineers to do the necessary studies, presenting their request with substan tiating data. Engineers were authorized to begin design of Rochester's lights in summer 1973. Plans for basic signals take about a month to design, Wire estimates. These plans are then reviewed by the State. The time this takes depends partly on how many other plans are being concurrently reviewed. Wire advises that plans will generally be returned at least once for revisions.

After plans were approved, Rochester advertised for bids through its consulting engineers. The State may advertise and generally either the State or the municipality may receive bids.

The cost is not cheap
Signals are not cheap. Wire hesitates to classify any one type of project as a "simple" intersection, since each situation is unique. However, he estimates a basic fourway fixedtime device costs about $25,000, including engineering. "That could easily double in the more complicated intersections," he cautions.

In most cases, project costs will be shared between local and state or federal governments. In a sharing situation a citystate agreement delineates cost and procedural responsibilities. Municipalities with a population larger than 5,000 may participate in the FederalAid Urban Program under which federal financial help may be obtained. The state may assist financially if at least one approach to the intersection is a state route. In any case, consulting engineers will generally advise clients of the costsharing options.

The wait begins after contracts are awarded. If the signals are operating a year after the contract is awarded "you're lucky," Wire says. There are two primary delays. Steel used in mastarms is in short supply. Also, the design of traffic signal controllers is in a state of technological flux, making it difficult for producers to keep pace with design changes.

Rochester's bids were let in May 1974. Work started almost immediately, but stopped when necessary mastarms were not available. In this case, temporary signal installation was possible, and lights were installed directly on the poles. This too was expensive. The Village, which split the $32,000 cost of the permanent installation with the State, had to pay all $1,200 for the temporary installation.

Rochester Village President Robert L. Martin compliments engineers who installed the traffic signal, which was definitely needed for the safety of school children. But Martin notes, "It's very expensive, even on a 5050 basis." The signals have taken a portion of the motor fuel tax funds the Village has been accumulating for major street work. Martin adds, "In spite of what your engineers or people in the community might tell you about the possibility of speeding the project, it just isn't so. When you are dealing with a larger governmental body you're go ing to do what they want to do when they want to do it."

The process is simple, but speed and bargains are not included.

PAM BRUZAN
Graduate of Syracuse University in New York and formerly reporter for the Illinois State Register. Now part-time freelance writer, housewife and mother.

Illinois Issues/January 1975/19