County May Tie Funds to Traffic Light Coordination

Los Angeles County supervisors sought Tuesday to put some political muscle behind efforts to control traffic congestion, voting to explore a proposal to withhold county road funds from local cities unless they agree to synchronize their traffic signals.

The move, which could affect $10 million that the county distributes each year to cities, won the unanimous backing of supervisors and reflected the frustrations of county officials who must deal with myriad communities in trying to coordinate traffic signals. The county Department of Public Works is already involved in some 13 traffic projects and has identified 80 major routes for traffic synchronization, said director Thomas A. Tidemanson.

As an example, he cited a boulevard that has 75 traffic signals in nine different cities. But when Tidemanson told supervisors that some cities have been reluctant to work with the county in coordinating traffic, the board proposed withholding the dollars as “a big stick” approach aimed at persuading cities to cooperate.

“I think it’s time we send the message to these cities that they no longer will get this money from the county without any strings,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Ed Edelman. “We have tremendous traffic and gridlock in this county, and we can’t widen the streets as we once did because we don’t have the funds we once did, so we have to use advanced techniques to move traffic using existing signals.”

Tidemanson said the money the county distributes to cities comes from its percentage of gasoline tax revenue. The funds are distributed based on a population and street mileage formula, he said. In addition, the supervisors agreed to seek additional money for the synchronization program by turning over operation of the county’s freeway call box system to the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. The commission is seeking to acquire the call box system as part of a new program for improved handling of freeway emergencies.

The county has been requesting $2 million for the call box system, but thus far, the commission has offered only $1.1 million. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors agreed to urge its appointees on the commission to push for the high figure.