PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — We've listened and taken action from our Let's Hear It meetup in Port St. Lucie.
Many who spoke with WPTV anchor Mike Trim said the traffic lights take too long to cycle, causing congestion.
"I used to be able to just go out and go anywhere no more than just one cycle. Now, you can sit at a traffic light, like over by Wawa, for two, three cycles waiting to get through, especially in the afternoon," Port St. Lucie resident Richard Blumsack said.
Seeking solutions, Trim took their concerns to Port St. Lucie City Hall, where the traffic operations administrator showed him how they time the lights.
"When I first moved here, U.S. 1 was two lanes, so I've been here a long time," Port St. Lucie Traffic Operations Administrator Paul Johnson said.
Johnson has driven in Port St. Lucie traffic for 26 years and watched it grow to the 110 traffic lights the city operates today.
Johnson said the city uses an adaptive signal coordination system for more than 40 of its lights, mainly at major intersections and corridors.
The system updates traffic signals in real time with cameras and more.
"Computer systems inside the traffic signal cabinets that have algorithms that are able to take data in real-time and make modifications to the traffic signals," Johnson said.
The result is that lights at main intersections like Airoso Boulevard and Crosstown Parkway take no longer than 190 seconds to cycle through.
Johnson said it's an ever-changing process.
Port St. Lucie's population boom has more vehicles on the roads and construction is building more lanes in several parts of the city. That will eventually lead to more traffic lights to manage.
Johnson said lights at side roads leading into larger, main roads could still see longer delays than major intersections.
"The coordination plan is trying to group vehicles along the corridor in order to move the most amount of traffic with the least amount of delay, so being patient is the key," Johnson said.
Johnson notes being a distracted driver, like looking at your phone and missing when the light turns green, doesn't help.
He said if you don't start driving when the light turns green, it might not register your car and cycle through like normal, eventually causing congestion.
