Fri
Nov 5 2010
06:00 am

The Maryville Daily Times has an article in today's paper about the proposed Alcoa Parkway bypass that discusses the pros and cons of the project and our stopalcoaparkway.com website launch.

NOTE: I am misquoted in the article, apparently due to confusion about an Oct. 25 post on BlountViews regarding the upcoming public meeting. The blog post, which is quoted extensively in the paper, was authored by 'bizgrrl', not me as stated in the article. The Mrs. and I disagree a little on traffic lights and the ultimate cost of fixing that stretch of highway, but we do agree that a bypass might not be the best alternative.

And M. Neal (the author of the blog post in question and the organizer behind stopalcoaparkway.com) makes a good point. TDOT presented several alternative solutions ranging in cost from $1 million to $64 million. Surely there is a solution in between that will cost less and have less negative impact on the environment and the community.

Anyway, thanks to the Maryville Daily Times for keeping the public informed about the proposed Alcoa Parkway bypass and for covering opposing points of view.

R. Neal's picture

Yikes! We just got our paper

Yikes! We just got our paper and the article is on the front page as the top headline. I didn't think it was really that big of a deal. Must be a slow news day.

jbr's picture

Traffic flow sensors a

Traffic flow sensors a traffic lights

The article
(link...)

Another article
(link...)

I think I went thru some of these type lights in Palo Alto.

My view is Alcoa Highway has one or two of these type lights between Knoxville and the most congested part of Alcoa Highway.

Then one at the southern most end of that section and perhaps one further down in the Knox county section.

They would possibly not be at an intersection. they are there to relegate traffic flow.

bizgrrl's picture

I'm pretty sure they use

I'm pretty sure they use something similar in certain areas of Florida. When we lived north of Orlando there were lots of lights that seemed to detect when to be green vs. red. You would not sit and wait for a red light while the other direction was completely empty. We called them intelligent traffic lights. Often enough in this area you wait and wait at a red light, no cars coming from any direction.

Sven's picture

Usually pressure plates under

Usually pressure plates under the road surface. They're a lot of fun when riding a motorcycle.

jbr's picture

I don't think these are the

I don't think these are the pressure plates. I think this is something else along the roadway monitoring flow and adjusting light changing and duration. And sometimes just not having a light. Or just a flashing yellow.

bizgrrl's picture

Agreed.

Agreed.

redmondkr's picture

Most traffic lights use

Most traffic lights use inductive loops.

that won't detect a motorcycle. My first encounter with one was a protected turn signal in Murphy, North Carolina. There was a police cruiser on the corner so I didn't dare run the damned thing. After a couple of cycles, he motioned for me to turn. Even then I expected a citation.

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