Are New “Green” Traffic Signals Coming To El Paso?

The answer is, "probably" and it will more than likely be pretty soon as a new green light wave is taking over traffic control systems all across the USA.

A new, (not so new), traffic control system is starting to pop up all over the country and should soon be just about everywhere, including the 915. In fact, decades ago, northeast El Paso already had one of these.

There may have been others but I remember hearing about the northeast one and seeing it, occasionally, still work.

A traffic signal timing system, known as the green wave is going into operation that "times" traffic signals so you never have to stop for a red light.

How Do Green Wave Signals Work?

1. Traffic engineers decide on an optimum speed, say 30 mph, that is safe, within legal limits and sets a perfect pace for traffic to flow at.
2. Then, they measure the distance from light to light and figure out how long it takes for a vehicle to get from one light to the next at the preselected speed.
3. Finally, Green Lights are "timed".  If a car takes 30 seconds to get from light A to light B, the B is timed to turn green :30 seconds after A does and so on down the line. Check out a diagram here.

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This raises a question - If a system is set for 35mph, will it also work at 70mph? The jury is still out on that one but I don't think I'll be trying it. Not on public streets with traffic anyway ...

Where Was El Paso's Green Wave?

I don't know when it was actually in operation but older relatives told me about a stretch of Dyer that was once timed. It went from Dyer and Will Ruth, (give or take), to (I think), Dyer's terminus at Pershing with speed set at 45mph.

Once I knew that, if I caught a green light in that area, I would set my speed to 45 and, sure enough, go a good distance with no stops. Whether it was coincidence, simple good luck or the ghost of a dead system, I don't know. But, I swear, it would work more often than not.