December 30, 2007
SFgo Still Going, Probably
Attention conspiracy buffs: There's a secret project underway to seize control all of San Francisco's traffic lights, just like how the terrorists did in Live Free or Die Hard. Well, okay, the civic initiative (called "SFgo") isn't TECHNICALLY a secret; while it's true that nobody talks about it and current information is hard to come by, that's just because the project is really really boring. But here's something to spice it up: President Bush just gave it a half million bucks in the FY2008 Omnibus Appropriations. (Along with $12 million for the next phase of the Third Street line, and the impending Central Subway disaster.)
The idea behind SFgo is that all of the lights in the city should be monitored and controlled by a central hub, so they can deal more effectively with traffic woes. It's a neat idea, and according to Muni, the work should be completed by 2004. As in, threeish years ago. Or possibly fourish [PDF].
So obviously, the project's PR hasn't been updated in quite some time. We tried emailing them for some more info -- and surprise, no response! This is what we mean by "secret project": it's not intentionally secret, just weirdly undocumented, at least for the public. How'd they ever manage to get $500K from the feds?
And check out the attached image, which we stole from the SFgo website. Looks pretty impressive, right? Like an awesome setup for monitoring the city's traffic lights? Yup. But hey, doesn't it sort of look exactly identical to the traffic monitoring room in Walnut Creek?
|
Watched the original ITALIAN JOB (1969) the other night. Disabling computer controls for the traffic signals was integral to the caper.
Will TPTB ever learn?
Use that computer money to upgrade Muni's computers. ...
In the remake to the Italian job hacking LA's computer controlled traffic system is central to the caper.
That being said, LA and Tokyo both have class leading centralized traffic control systems. And they've made a huge improvement. SF (and every other major U.S. city) needs them too. The rest of the country has an even worse time centrally managing traffic.
And why will the Central Subway project be a disaster? I know SF loves it streetcars -- but in the long run? Subterranean systems make the most sense. They offer the most speed, per mile, getting people to their destinations faster. In that part of the city there really should be even more subways. I'm going on record now that in the end -- it's going to be a huge success for density, transportation and quality of life.
Based on my hazy recollection of a conversation I had with a jaded engineer that's working on this project, SF's traffic light system dates back to the mid 50s and has not been upgraded since. With the exception of parts of Hayes, Fell and Market Streets and of course the 3rd Street line.
The Gavster gave a press conference last year and I believe he said the new system wouldn't be up and running for the entire city until 2020 and would cost around 200 million. For more info, you might want to check out a story ABC 7's Vic Lee did about it last year.
Unless it has moved, SFgo is based on the 2nd floor of 25 Van Ness Avenue. Not much of a command center, but it's worth a gander if you're in the neighborhood.
Why is the Central Subway a disaster? The proposed alignment is expensive and inefficient -- severe bottlenecks will be created. Because they're proposing one stop in Chinatown, and that's about it. Because it's not making it easier to transfer to the Market St. metro. Because the station(s) will be too small.
There is a need for increased transit capacity along the 30's route, sure. This isn't the answer.
Transbay blog has a good writeup:
http://transbay.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/a-series-on-the-central-subway/