This story caught my eye recently and my first reaction was: If they can do it, why can’t our folks do it here in Amarillo?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/synchronized-traffic-lights-la_n_2725857.html

Los Angeles (population nearly 4 million people, but which seems like a zillion) has just announced a traffic-signal synchronization that puts the entire municipal grid on the same traffic timeline. The traffic-light synchro plan is designed to reduce gridlock, drive time, presumably cool tempers and, get this, reduce air pollution caused by motor vehicle exhaust.

City traffic gurus say the installation is virtually complete and that motorists should start seeing an improvement in the traffic flow throughout the City of Angels.

I am blown away by this.

I also know that there is little comparison between that monstrous megalopolis and Amarillo (population nearly 200,000). LA is, well, La La Land and Amarillo is, um, something quite different.

But city traffic engineers in both places have access to technology that enables motor vehicles to move smoothly. I am not certain why Amarillo City Hall hasn’t employed it here.

I recently drove east on Ninth Avenue through downtown Amarillo. Red lights stopped me at every corner until I got to Taylor Street, when I was allowed to turn south and get on the Canyon Expressway. Buchanan Street northbound isn’t bad, however. I often am able to drive all the way to Amarillo Boulevard without being stopped. The same can be said for Washington Street all the way from Farmers Road south of the city into town. I once made that drive through about 14 traffic signals and didn’t get stopped a single time by a red light.

But it’s so spotty here that I cannot help but get annoyed when I have to sit through traffic signals – particularly with no traffic moving through the intersection.

Many of my friends here are fond of poking fun at LA, California or developments that occur on the Left Coast. I’ll admit to doing the same thing on occasion. This time, though, they seem to have done something right.