Green light for signals review
The effectiveness of Perth's poorly performing traffic signals will come under the microscope, with Main Roads launching a major audit of more than 90 sets of lights along some of Perth's key road corridors.
The key aim of the review will be to ensure the signals are effective in reducing congestion.
It will be rolled out over the next 10 months, initially concentrating on nine yet-to-be-selected routes. It comes after a significant increase in complaints from the public about traffic lights.
According to the Main Roads annual report, traffic lights were the biggest area of complaint in 2013-14 - jumping from 10 to 19 per cent of all complaints.
The report said Main Roads had developed a mechanism for reviewing the timing and efficiency of the lights that would be implemented by June.
A second tranche of traffic lights will be reviewed in 2016.
Perth's traffic signal system is known as SCATS and Main Roads says it is the best because it is used in 263 cities in 27 countries.
It relies solely on sensors built into the road near the stop line and has no capacity to recognise volumes of traffic or traffic levels down the road.
Earlier this year, an analysis by _The West Australian _found that changing traffic light sequences could help ease congestion.
Based on the suggestions of readers, the newspaper visited several sites and found anomalies at some traffic lights that could be affecting vehicle flow. One of the biggest criticisms was that not enough green light time was being given to roads with the biggest volume of traffic.
The intersections of Great Eastern Highway and Kooyong Road-Brighton Road in Burswood and Curtin Avenue and Jarrad Street, Cottesloe, were given as good examples.
Transport Minister Dean Nalder said that better sequencing on major arterial roads could be the key to unlocking traffic congestion.
Mr Nalder said a test of longer and better co-ordinated green lights on a 4km stretch of Canning Highway had cut travel times from Riseley Street in Applecross to Henley Street in Como by up to six minutes.
Asked if it could be a citywide solution, Mr Nalder said: "If we can replicate that result across the city, I'm keen to do that."
A 2012-13 analysis of intersections on Tonkin Highway and Orrong Road found that reducing the traffic light cycle from 250 to 190 seconds cut vehicle delays.
