$150 MILLION SET TO SYNCHRONIZE L.A. TRAFFIC SIGNALS.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Staff Writer

Los Angeles' beleaguered traffic system received a boost Tuesday, with officials announcing that the city will get $150 million in bond funds to synchronize all the city's traffic signals.

"I want to say to the people of Los Angeles: Promises made, promises kept," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and state and local elected officials.

"When I campaigned for mayor, I said we would synchronize the traffic signals and it would be expensive. Thanks to the governor and the speaker, now we have that money."

The funds are coming from Proposition 1B, which was part of a $40 billion package of bonds approved by voters in 2006 for transportation and infrastructure improvements across the state.

The light-synchronization program allows city officials to adjust traffic signals around the city to accommodate traffic flows.

It is organized through a command center below City Hall East, where workers are stationed at banks of computers with monitors that show live coverage of key transit areas. The center also allows staff to dispatch emergency personnel to problem areas.

Schwarzenegger said the program means commuters will be able to get to their jobs or homes more quickly.

"This will mean a faster, smoother commute on our streets," Schwarzenegger said. "And synchronizing traffic lights means we can cut greenhouse gases."

Villaraigosa and Nunez said it has been estimated that synchronization will cut 1 million metric tons of pollutants from the atmosphere by allowing vehicles to move more quickly without idling in traffic.

Los Angeles has 4,385 traffic signals -- with 2,012 already synchronized.

Villaraigosa said the additional state money will allow the city to complete work on the remaining signals, expected to be completed in 2011.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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