Traffic light-synchronization failure snarls traffic

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

The traffic signals went haywire this morning, causing widespread commuter snarls on surface streets throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

"The system just went down at a quarter after five and we're trying to find out why and repair it," Regional System Manager Gerry de Camp said.

"If you don't like the way the lights work on normal days, you'll really think they are out of sync today."

He said such a problem has occurred "on just two or three occasions in the last five years."

While the lights continued to change colors in the normal green-yellow-red patterns, they failed to stay in coordination with other traffic signals in the area, causing backups at major intersections.

The lights when working properly are coordinated to provide set amounts of time to move traffic as smoothly and as equitably as possible along the streets.

De Camp said the problem is probably in the multiplex communication units that control the synchronization of the lights.

"The good news is that the system works well 99.9 percent of the time, but today must be the 1,000th day," he said.

The areas hit hardest were on Las Vegas Boulevard south of U.S. 95, the area around Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas Boulevard and Paradise Road and the intersections of Flamingo Road and the Strip and Tropicana Avenue and the Strip.

Officials reported that the lights were back in sync by 9:30 a.m.