Often times "we can't" in a software system does not mean it is a technologically impossible problem. It means that whatever effort is required to solve the problem way outweighs the value represented by solving it.

That can be true of even things that have tremendous value. If creating one feature that everybody will absolutely love takes 500 hours and with that time, you could build 25 other features and bugfixes, sometimes you just have to get the 25 in favor of the one.

That often means the one 500 hour feature will never get built because you will never just have 500 hours available at one time to burn on a single fix or enhancement. And some projects don't have the capability to be incrementally solved, aka we'll budget 10 hours for it this month and that will give us a small improvement. It could very well be that 490 hours don't get you a useable change, only the last 10 hours that wraps it up makes it useable.

Likewise if you can afford to budget 10 hours a month to it, that means it's going to be 50 months before it will ever go live. And in that time, there will be hundreds of other changes to the system that will have to be compatible with the one major feature, which means adding however many hours to the 500 to account for how the system has evolved since you started it.

Lastly, you can sometimes shave off time by putting multiple developers onto a project, but at a certain point, you can't put more people in the same work stream because they won't have anything they can do or they'll get in each other's ways. You can absolutely have two or three or four chefs cracking eggs and stirring batter and making icing, but eventually that cake goes in the oven and it's going to take as long as it takes to bake, no less and no more, no matter how many chefs you hire.

None of this is to excuse the DOT. Whatever it is they aren't doing here may not be anywhere near that complex. There could just be ineptitude at play preventing this from getting solved. But the details above might help explain this or other engineering issues you may come across.

A pre bid to do the demo work?

That sounds awesome! I'll defintely look it up

Some Sunday mornings one can drive (40mph) south and get most of the lights green before hitting a red. Then there is the light at Washington BVLD. For people heading west, (from Ridgley's Delight), it lasts about 10 seconds. For people heading east (from Pig town) it stays green about 60+ seconds.

We also have the pain of the people going to Uni MD. They pile up the left lanes (going south). When the light turns green, they are in stupor and can't seem to get through it quickly.

Skills can be anything: organizing, gardening, knowing how to polish fingernails, speaking another language, etc... My point is we are all good at something!

https://www.baltimoresun.com/ask/bs-ask-traffic-lights-20191015-ietjxqoqkngcvle6xywze65f2e-story.html

https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-xpm-2010-06-07-bs-md-dresser-getting-there-0607-20100607-story.html

Recent update: https://blocbyblocknews.com/baltimore-wants-to-reduce-driver-wait-times-at-traffic-signals-with-4-5-million-study/

I should clarify that I think the “we can’t” statement is likely a cop-out or flat-out lie. Not that they didn’t try. Sorry for not being clearer.

It’s not unlikely. They literally tired 8 years ago to no avail, because they can’t.

This seems highly unlikely. Traffic lights have timers inside. If every light operates on a 60-second cycle for example, it’s possible for the whole road’s worth of signals to be timed perfectly. This is extremely basic traffic engineering. You do not need a graduate degree to understand the science here. And if the timer in a particular control box is broken, replace the timer.

I know this is about fixing the light timing for MLK, but with any mention of that road I feel obligated to say that it needs major road dieting and traffic calming. It’s in my top 3 roads that need a redesign along with I-83 and North Ave.

Thought I was the only one; it can literally ruin your day

I know, so much potential! I wanted my neighborhood association to be involved. But it was hard to get momentum going.

So I'm in Florida right now

It may or may not make you feel better that West Palm Beach has light timing that makes Baltimore look like it's designed by actual experts

I thought Baltimore had to be the worst before spending some time down here

They tried to fix the timing 8 years ago and there’s a reason it wasn’t fixed. If I recall it was because they legitimately can’t

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I really want to learn ASL; I love that you used your yoga skills for that!

This is pretty cool! Had no idea it existed.

Wood working is something I really want to learn!

That's soon cool!

Look, the last time I bowled I hit maybe 15 pins total, which was a personal worst. That's a skill I'd be happy to learn!

I had no idea that existed!!

My skills are generally on the crafty side: I paint, draw, do some printmaking and bookmaking, I am an internediate-level wire-wrapper (jewelry), I can do basic sewing, I have a Cricut, etc...

I also have a background in education. Have my MA in teaching and was formerly certified in K-12 art (different state). I worked with afterschool programs for K-5 as well. I also side-hustled at couple paint-and-sips.

Lastly, I'm a really good editor. I write and work with other writers as a hobby, and I'm very good with writing skills.

Sports and Social at Maryland Live! Casino and hotel

This explains why people drive like bats out of hell from Pratt on down. Pissed off and trying to beat the light at Washington Blvd.

There are lights near me horribly timed.

Us locals will come to full stops on the reds, then proceed. Or, if going straight, will make legal R turn, U-turn, then R again...to bypass the signal that didn't recognize the vehicles.

2 problems:

• no consideration for low traffic periods
• malfunctioning traffic sensors that either don't sense vehicle or cycle like there are cars at all 4 traffic directions... when I'm the only car on the road at 1am.