Looking forward to a more synchronized ride

Yesterday, I wrote about a traffic synchronization grant that the city is pursuing, and hoped it would cover the hated stretches of road between me and the 210 Freeway: Sierra Madre Blvd., and San Gabriel Blvd.

Lucky me! Apparently it is on the project list, which I am listing below (it is not online):

- Fair Oaks Avenue- California Boulevard to North City limit
- Hill Avenue- From California Boulevard to Orange Grove Boulevard
- Del Mar Boulevard- Pasadena Avenue to Lake Avenue
-California Boulevard- Colorado Boulevard to the SR-210
- Orange Grove Boulevard- Colorado Boulevard to the SR-210
- Los Robles Avenue- California Boulevard to North City Limits
- Sierra Madre Boulevard- Del Mar Boulevard to the East City Limits
- San Gabriel Boulevard- California Boulevard to Orange Grove Boulevard

Some of the commenters on Thursday's post blasted Pasadena as having some of the worst synchronized traffic lights in the Southland. I told this to Bahman Janka, a Pasadena traffic engineer I spoke to yesterday and he chuckled a bit and admitted that there are some areas where the city really needs to improve.

The grant is going to be looked at by the city's planning commission in a few weeks. The bulk of the money ($789,000) would come from Proposition 1B funds and would go for cameras, some of which would be "smart cameras" that would know when to switch the red lights for maximum efficiency. The city would have to kick in some money- currently the staff report says $198,000, but Janka said that amount will likely end up being less.