£45m Liverpool City Centre Transport Scheme

[E400]

RE: £45m Liverpool City Centre Transport Scheme

(12/08/2016 16:06)mr t Wrote:  No longer the case - this year they have stopped responding to traffic flows - go and watch every single junction in town - and you will see them doing the full sequence day and night - even to let just one car out of a junction. It will sit there first for like 30-60 seconds, with no traffic around, then when eventually it gets moving the lights will stay on green for another 30 seconds, while another car comes from somewhere else and again is forces to wait 30-60 seconds to go. Add this at every junction in town especially down The Strand, and that is were the queues come from. As soon as one arm clears, they should change to the next arm, but they dont they will stay on green for another 30 seconds while traffic builds up on the other arms.
If they are smart why does it take at least a whole minute for buses coming out of Liverpool one to The Strand, when there is no traffic around, then going from The Strand up James Street, again changes for James Street/Mann Island with no traffic approaching, same for Water Street, same for the tunnel exit/Tithebarn Street, same for King Edward Street and same for Great Howard Street, Then even the new lights on Leeds Street/Vauxhall Road and at Pall Mall change all night to no one.
Lime Street/Adelphi, Lime Street/Elliot St, Lime Street/St Georges Place, Lime St/London Road, London Road/Anson Street, St Johns Lane/Queen Square all do the same full changes and sequences day and night without any traffic.
But when i reported these they say there is not a problem showing up, but it is not just me and not just a one off! Theres also umpteen others across the suburbs I have noticed also doing it!

Some of them such as the St John's Lane and Lime Street lights are all part of a much larger synchronised system, which is why they appear to run through the cycle. Instead, what is happening is one light may be triggered and then in order to maintain sequence (designed to increase flow during congestion), the lights will seemingly change for no-one. This is a trade-off which unfortunately works against free-flow at night/quiet times, but works brilliantly during peak times. Other junctions which are standalone are 'smart' and respond to external triggers. Older junctions (generally the ones without pedestrian crossings) are get to timed sequences.

Smart traffic systems are much more complex than you'd think. The latest developments (not for Liverpool, but generally) are working on processing bus GPS and timetable data to work out which services require priority passage, then mixing this with traffic data and data from all the sensors within the system in order to work out which lights to trigger and for how long. It is clever stuff, all designed for good traffic flows and minimum congestion to all road users.