This is not an accurate statement. Physical reality argues the point for me.

Drivers are actually a fairly evolved species. One light can signal multiple messages to lanes with multiple functions.

X lanes can be served by 1 light set. The lane itself infers the maneuver (or displays it explicitly) while the light indicates the appropriate time to move.

A curved design while debatable in its attractiveness, could limit functionality (the curved part could have lower clearance)

While the top to bottom format is what we are used to, there is something to be said for what the color blind post mentioned. But I would think that all horizontal lights “read” left to right (red being left most) and would be quickly learned. Just as you dont have vertical ones with Green at the top. An advantage to horizontal would be higher clearance and more stability to the light itself (with the infamous Oklahoma wind…)

Isn’t the “black box” designed to improve visibility with rising/setting sun conditions?

As long as you have multiple lanes (and especially dedicated turning lanes) a crossbar format is required.

One thing I would definitely like to see fixed is to have the number of lights correspond to the number of lanes. There are places where we have 3 lights for 1 or 2 lanes and multiple lanes with fewer lights than needed.

Maybe we need to redesign stop signs too? LOL

However, I’m a bit concerned that streetscape committee is looking at all of the fixtures and designs one by one rather than trying to incorporate a singular “look and feel” to the downtown area. As O’Connor responded: “the idea was to create a new look downtown that would make it different from anywhere else;” not only should it look different from anywhere else in OKC but be distinctive from any other major city as well. Additionally, are there any boundaries on the streetscape project? Will it include Bricktown, Film Row, Midtown and Automobile Alley, et al also? Where will the new designs end?

As I have traveled throughout the US over the years, the places that have a “holistic” feel to them are the places I notice most. Whether it is downtown Boston, a borough of NYC or the gas lamp district in San Diego, these places feel like a community. There were definite boundaries present that – directly or indirectly – let you know when you entered that “district” That is what the commission needs to develop in the downtown area as well.

Additionally, the commission has one chance to make these decisions and needs as much public input as possible. Let’s do something that will not just look like 2010 in ten to fifteen years.

These standalone lights are commonplace in Boston, where the aesthetics of the larger urban environment (not the item itself) seems to be the primary consideration.

See an example of such a traffic light here:

Post Traffic Light on Comm Ave

None of these designs stand out to me as particularly inspiring. I’m not sure of the need to spend money on new traffic lights if we’re just going to end up with some new, slightly different, yet still uninspiring and blah setup. Now, if we could come up with something cool, something unique that added to the character of downtown, that is different. But a lot of the suggestions are just dull and boring.

A few quick minutes of internet searches and I came across this:

http://allworldcars.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/curved_traffic_lights.jpg

It’s kind of neat, different from what we normally see. But ultimately, I’m not sure how sexy you can make a traffic light. Are we married to the little black box? Is there some other design we could use? I don’t know.

If we’re going to spend the money to redo them (which might be necessary simply due to changing the streets from one way to two way), I think we should look at doing a smarter traffic grid. I’m not so much concerned with a distinctive appearance as having the nuts and bolts of it work better. Are there newer traffic systems that better detect the amount of traffic? That manage traffic differently based upon the time of day? That can be reprogrammed to take events into account? It makes sense to me that traffic should be managed differently at 8am than at 5pm. We could change the lights to facilitate the larger amount of traffic heading into downtown in the morning, and out of downtown in the evening. Changing the traffic flow after a Thunder game would help a lot. During periods with expected heavy pedestrian traffic, we could change patterns to keep traffic moving more slowly, to minimize chances of someone being hit.

Can we have the traffic lights adjust to the ambient light to make them easier to see? Sometimes the sun gets in my eyes when I’m driving, and I have a hard time telling what color the light is. Are there any systems out there that automatically adjust to make the lights easier to see against the setting sun?

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know thing one about traffic control systems. Maybe I’m totally off base. But there are people out there that do know. We need to be talking to them to see what advances we can use. If we want a truly modern, advanced downtown, I think we need to be looking in this sort of direction.

Design elements for a streetscape should not have even the slightest potential for interfering with safety.