Valley cities synchronizing signal lights to ease traffic

Driving through the desert means a lot of stop and go, that’s why Cathedral City is starting to synchronize stop lights on Date Palm Drive.

The project, a three mile stretch of 10 traffic lights between Ramon Road and E Palm Canyon, will cost almost $347,214 of federal tax money.

“Especially in season we have more people using our roads and traffic and roads can back up on busy days,” said Cathedral City Communications Manager Chris Parman. “The purpose of it is to allow traffic to flow better, reduce congestion and reduce the city’s carbon footprint.”

Next door in Palm Springs, the city will spend $2.5 million to change signal lights at 80 intersections across the city. The project also includes cameras in some places, which will hopefully improve traffic flow and help the city make decisions when and where to close roads because of wind and flooding.

There’s a bigger picture here. These cities are partnering with the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, or CVAG, for a regional signal synchronization.

“It’ll involve over 400 signals. We’re just getting started on the process right now,” said CVAG Excecutive Director Tom Kirk. “Certainly 111 is a major corridor here, so is Fred Waring, so is Ramon, Vista Chino, Avenue 48, all of the major streets in the Coachella Valley will be covered under this program.”

It’ll cost about $10 million in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds and take about two years to implement before ease traffic congestion and improve air quality.

“If we can people to go from Point A to Point B and do so without stopping and creating emissions at stop lights, we’re doing a great thing for you and I, but we’re also doing a great thing for our air quality and region,” said Kirk.

Kirk said most desert cities already have a few major streets synchronized and are making upgrades to their intersections.