Three Point Plan to get Ada County Moving

1. ASSESS THE FUNCTIONALITY OF ALL INTERSECTIONS
   Do an assessment of ALL intersections in Ada County to determine what each needs to perform at its optimum. Is it a right hand turn lane? Is it permissive left turn green signals? This assessment will then form the top priority of any construction program for the coming 1-3 years.


2. TIME ALL TRAFFIC SIGNALS
   Timing all traffic signals in Ada County will entail tying all intersections into the main computer with fiber optics, cameras, etc in order to allow all signals to allow for the greatest amount of vehicle movement at all times of the day. We should be able to get on a major road like Fairview Ave, Broadway, Overland or State St, and once on that road and going at the speed limit, we should be able to travel that road without stopping. Many other cities do this, why can’t Ada County? If a new, more powerful computer or more sophisticated software is necessary, then acquire whatever is needed to make Ada County traffic signals "smart signals".
   
   The City of Roseville California, upgraded one third of their signals to make them “smart traffic lights”. They estimate that they have saved each driver in their community $400 per year and this was at a time when gas was $2.00 per gallon. Gas is now at $4.00 per gallon and may never fall below that. Think of the benefit to Ada County drivers if such a program were instituted here.
   
   We need to start thinking that government needs to work for us and we don’t work for government. Our tax dollars should be used to make our lives easier, not just more expensive.
   
   In addition, we know that cars that are at idle pollute a lot more than cars that are going 20mph. We know that cars that go 20mph pollute more than those that go 30mph. We need to get to the point when cars in Ada County spend more time traveling than they do sitting at red traffic lights. After all, it doesn’t matter what the mpg rating of the car you drive is, when it’s sitting at a traffic light in a poorly operating intersection, the mileage per gallon of gas is zero.


3. MAKE ACHD’S FINANCES COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT
   We need to know where the money comes from (which City) and where the money is spent. The last time this was done was in a report covering 1995 to 2003. It has never been updated. The question is why? Only by having complete transparency, can the citizens feel invested in the system to make constructive suggestions for innovation and change.