"Intelligent"
San Jose Traffic Lights Not So Intelligent
In The West
The "intelligent" traffic lights installed
in San José have not been so intelligent on
the west side of the city for the last six
months, being totally disconnected from the
network's control centre.
It appears that the Ministero de Obras
Publicas y Transportes (MOPT) does not have
the budget nor the specialized personnel to
provide adequate maintenance to the system.
Affected are 15 traffic lights that make up
part of the interconnected 325 traffic light
system in downtown San José and surrounding
areas, covering an area from Canal 7 to the
Hospital Psiquiátrico to Plaza Mayor and the
ICE building in the La Sabana.
Mario Chavarría, sub-director de Ingeniería
de Tránsito, explains that the traffic
lights have not been connected to the
network since last December, when the system
experienced damage to the fibre optic cable
network that connects the 15 traffic lights
to the control centre located in Plaza
González Víquez.
Chavarría added that the damage occurred
during the preparations for the Festival de
la Luz (annual light festival) in the area
of Paseo Colon, its exact location yet to be
pinpointed.
The engineer said that even though the
traffic lights are not connected to the
control centre it does not mean they are not
functioning.
To repair the problem the MOPT requires a
specialized technical team and money, which
it does not have.
The intelligent traffic lights allow the
control centre to intervene their running
times, allowing the control room to regulate
traffic flow.
The traffic lights in question provide
priority to traffic moving into San José,
while in the afternoons to traffic moving
out of San José and onto Pavas.
The control room can adjust the timing of
the lights and traffic flow in the event of
an accident or other problems, giving one
light more green for example.
However, in the west end of San José such
control is not available until the repairs
are made.
The intelligent traffic light system was
installed at a cost of us$4.6 million
dollars by the Mexican company, Semex S.A.
in 2008, providing synchronized traffic flow
and cutting down travel time of up to 26% on
some routes.
The cost of mantaining the system is ¢340
million colones a year and the problems with
the west end traffic lights occurred after
the expiry of the Semex contract with the
MOPT.
Karla González, ministra de Transportes,
said that the MOPT has tried to renew and
expand the Semex contract to include an
additional 90 traffic lights, but the
Mexican company refused the offer and the
project was put on hold.
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