Las Vegas Sun

November 30, 2009

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Haywire traffic signals snarls traffic for hours

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1999 | 8:54 a.m.

A computer glitch caused traffic signals to go haywire Tuesday morning, causing widespread commuter traffic snarls on surface streets throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

The traffic signal system for the valley went completely out of service about 5:15 a.m., said Regional System Manager Gerry de Camp.

The lights continued to change colors but failed to stay in coordination with other traffic signals in the area, causing backups at major intersections.

Officials said the problem was caused by a bad electrical capacitor that possibly was an original component of the system's computer that went into service 17 years ago.

The signals were back to normal by 9:30 a.m.

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