Traffic Guy

Traffic Guy Columns from Car & Travel

An INFORMal Rant
I got the word today, oh boy. It's a Gridlock Alert Day.

Arrows Less Than Perfectly Aimed
Robin Hood used arrows to good effect. So did William Tell. To find their modern day successors, all you have to do is look for the people who design the road signs.

As Simple as Crossing a Street?
The fact that more and more people are lacing up their sneakers and walking is a challenge to traffic engineers.

A New Bible for Traffic Guys
The times are a' changin'. Truth be told, it's long overdue.

A Road to Follow in 9/11's Shadow
An eight-lane road or a bypass? What's the best way of routing traffic near the World Trade Center site?

A Sidewalk Walking Tour
What good is being a New Yorker if you can't walk where you want?

A Step Ahead
State-of-the-art crossings will soon be coming to a neighborhood near you. Here's what you should be looking for.

A Times Square Resolution
New Year's Eve in Times Square. The bright lights and neon signs of Broadway. The big ball dropping as the countdown begins...

A TripTik for Traffic Buffs. No, I'm not kidding
Things are happening in the often-backward world of traffic engineering that you'll want to see.

A Wake-up Call for Drowsy Drivers
When I'm driving and I can't sleep, I count big rigs instead of sheep.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree
The placement and care of trees are a matter of life and limb.

Break the Bottlenecks
It frees up traffic flow without widening the road. And it reduces air pollution and energy use. It's all mom and apple pie.

Bright Lights, Bright Ideas
Traffic engineers are starting to make use of state-of-the-art signals on streets and highways.

Bringing City Life to the Suburbs
Reworking the suburban dream to make it more attractive to everyone.

Build Big or Die
A migraine with a message: Get cars, trucks, trains and planes moving, or the region's economy will wither and die.

Bury the Cross Bronx
I dare to dream about a series of "Little Digs" that will add up to one bigger and better expressway..

California Dreaming
They do things differently-and sometimes better-in the Golden State.

Clear Signs of a Greener Future
Psychics and futurists alike are looking for signs to help them in their predictions. A good place to find them is the nearest highway.

Coming Soon to a Street Near You
The neighbors are getting restless. They're ready to calm traffic. Sounds good, but what does this involve?

Compromising Positions
Compromises are always just ahead for highway engineers.

Congestion Pricing for Dummies
There is a notion, embraced by some ivory tower economists, that tolls should be raised during rush hours to relieve New York's bone-crushing traffic congestion.

Construction-Free Summer Blues
Why fewer summer traffic jams may lead to larger traffic headaches down the road.

Country Roads, Take Me Home (Alive)
A country road can have a booby trap around every bend. Here are a few things to be on the lookout for.

Dis-Service Roads
Why build them if they don't help when you need them?

Smart Driver's Guide to Shopping
The holidays are here again and, sure as Scrooge, so is the holiday traffic.

E-ZPass Is Like a Box of Chocolates
The famous Forrest Gump saying definitely applies to the local applications of E-ZPass technology.

E-ZCome, E-ZGo
For those who prefer to take the fast lane, the trolls who run the tolls need to tell us the toll price.

Five Ways to Upgrade Reality
Bad roads? Ugly traffic jams? It doesn't have to be that way, say the best traffic minds.

Four Highways Beautiful to a Fault
Lovely scenery, but if you let down your guard ...

Getting Downstate Up to Speed
A prudent proposal to get downstate up to speed.

Give Glare No Chance
Some people dream of a world without war or hunger. Call me shallow, but I dream of a world without headlight glare.

Great Zeus! Socrates on Tolls
It occurs to me that the extraordinary traffic congestion that plagues New York City is reaching the point of no return.

Highway Disconnections
For some shortsighted reason, metro road planners viewed direct highway-to-highway ramps as a luxury, not a necessity.

HOV on Long Island: Worth the Cost?
The LIE was expanded to the tune of $880 million, so now the question must be asked: Was it worth it?

How to Win a Traffic Safety Oscar
So what's the secret? Here's what your community will have to do.

If You Build It, Plan Ahead
I may not be much of a movie critic, but I sure know a traffic jam when I'm stuck in one.

Illuminating Dracula's Haunts
Poorly lit roads that only Count Dracula could love.

In-Car Navigation - a Family Affair
Love means never having to say you're lost.

In with the Interstate, Out with the Route
Bring an economic boom? Where do you start? With a name change, of course.

It's A Tree. It's a Shrub. It's a Traffic Sign!
"Maybe if you drove with your eyes open," Clark said to Lois, "you'd see the signs." X-ray vision also helps, he thought to himself.

'I was an Eye in the Sky'
"I remember a head-on crash on the GW Bridge that backed up cars to Sloatsburg - before there was a Sloatsburg."

Keep Your Mind on the Child
Children and cars can be a dangerous mix.

License or Not, Here I Come
Look carefully at the drivers in the car to your left and to your right. There's a good chance that one is a driving-school dropout.

Low-Cost Remedies for What Ails Us
Members send in their ideas for curing New York's road woes.

Missing Robert Moses
A guy who can get things built would come in handy about now.

My Secret Escape Routes
The undiscovered, lightly traveled routes that let you breathe something other than tailpipe exhaust.

Name That Bridge, By George
Maybe our current traffic mess is due to the infamous "curse of the Bambino."

Name That Street
How can you drive on New York roads, if you're not clairvoyant?

Naughty or Nice?
Take this quiz, and maybe you'll see yourself in a new light, just like good old Ebenezer Scrooge did.

New Year's Resolution: I'll Be a Better Driver
Traffic can do strange things to us. Now is the time to resolve to do better.

Park it on Main Street
If you need binoculars to window shop, you're in the wrong town.

Please, Find Me a Rest Stop!
In the world of budget priorities, rest areas are near the bottom. Yet there are times when even the budget director must wish there was one around the next bend.

Pothole's Court with Judge Judy
Too many good people are getting hit with big repair bills. This is no act of God. Someone has to take the fall.

Privatized Roads? A West Wing Drama
TV's West Wing takes a look at the transportation asset privatization issue.

Red Lights and Rocket Science
While coordinated signals can't help us get to the moon, they can make it a lot easier to get us across town.

Roads That Plead, 'Fix Me First'
Bringing metro roads up to standard is a top priority, right?

Road Construction Becoming 'Invisible'
There's nothing dumber than repairing both your toilets at the same time. Repairing two parallel highways at the same time is a close second.

Road Fix To-Do List
Dear Congress, you have come to that proverbial fork in the road. You must now decide whether or not to adequately fund the rebuilding of our nation's highways.

Safety Wonk Wish List
You would think that when it comes to traffic safety, there's nothing new under the sun. Even Ripley would be surprised.

Scouts Prepare for Safety
Fun with a traffic safety purpose at the 2005 Scout Jamboree.

Some Like It Hot
When it comes to driving, Florida is a whole different gallgame than New York.

Take Me Out to a Ball Game-Fast!
Here's my proposal: Hire a Game-Day Traffic Umpire responsible for nothing but access to local games.

Terror and Transportation
The visible - and not so visible - transportation changes that we've been living with since Sept. 11, 2001.

The $800 Million Question
Where can you get an extra $800 million when times are tough?

The Drive-By Deer Hunters
A driver's license now doubles as a deer-hunting license, good 12 months a year.

The Forgotten Other Island
From axle-breaking pavement to overburdened side streets, the Isle of Staten is one tough go.

The Legend of Rip Van Wyck
Have you heard of Rip Van Wyck, who fell asleep in traffic on the Van Wyck Expressway, slept for four years and woke up in the same traffic jam?

The Paved Road to Hell
The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. So was my trip to Albany.

Tough Love for New Drivers
Teens, go ahead and mope -- it's for your own good. Parents, sing hallelujah!

Sounding Off on Noise Barriers
The most visible solution to the road noise problem is the noise barrier. To shed some light on the issue, we've called in rock star Ozzy Osbourne.

Traffic Guys Traumatize TV Doctors
The vital signs in the ER were lower than the Nielsen ratings. The reason: traffic engineers.

Traffic Island
Stop the presses! A Newsday poll, conducted last year, confirmed the obvious...

Tunneling Through The Great Divide
A rail freight tunnel under the Hudson River is a surefire way to get trucks off the road.

Uphill Battles
Why do metro vehicles make mountains out of molehills?

Why Did the Chicken Run the Red?
Traffic signals themselves are often the cause of red light running. Need proof?

Won't You Misguide My Sleigh Tonight?
Santa was lost, and it was getting late. The first glimmer of dawn was on the horizon as he circled Rockland County.

Y2K Stay Home
You've had just about enough of these Y2K scares. Still-admit it-you're starting to hedge your bets.