A TALE OF TWO CULTURES

This article describes the different view of traffic operations experienced by the public sector managers of transport and road users. The author concentrates on a case study of traffic congestion in the Washington, DC, area of the USA. A conference convened to discuss potential solutions heard a proposal recommending designated funding for signal timing with the aim of retiming one third of the traffic signals each year. Concerns and objections were raised by members of local government, but local press and private citizens were strongly supportive of the proposal. Resistance was caused by agencies resenting criticism of their current work, by lack of understanding of the operational measures involved, and by the limitations that the project would make on flexibility of funding allocation. The author points out that the travelling public understands more about the effect of signal operations than do the planners and decision-makers, and should be included in the promotion of improvements.