Here’s my column from the Sunday paper. If you’ve already read it elsewhere, please skip on down to the comments below.

LIGHTS ON

Alert reader John has a question about illumination, or the lack thereof:

There seem to be more lights out on the metro roadways now than a few years ago. Where are the guys who fix them? Did MnDOT get rid of them all when they were trying to save money? Why are so many out?

Amr Jabr, who oversees lights on major highways in the metro area, says his electrical maintenance staff “is slightly down from the past.” The bigger issue is that his crew has more things to maintain every year.

The current numbers: 19,000 lights and 670 traffic signals, serviced by 13 field workers and a couple of supervisors.

Wintry weather slows down light repairs, Jabr says. Sometimes the wiring is beneath frozen ground, and the workers who close down traffic lanes are the same ones who clear snow (and perform other jobs), so they’re not always available — and there are fewer of them.

“We do our best to keep up,” Jabr said, adding that the recent increase in transportation funding should help.

PICK A COLOR

Alert reader Jon is seeing red — and yellow — when he parks his car:

I have a question that’s been bothering me since I moved to the Twin Cities last June. I’ve noticed that some parking meters in Minneapolis are different colors, specifically red and yellow. I’m assuming this represents something, probably a restriction on the meter, but I can’t seem to find any signage that explains. … What do these colors represent?

The Minneapolis parking meter palette includes red, yellow, gray and green. Gray is your basic meter, while the green ones are operated by the Park and Recreation Board.

The city’s yellow meters mean short-term parking, generally 15 minutes.

Red meters, meanwhile, are used in places where parking is prohibited during one or both rush hours.

Restrictions should appear on signs and on the meter, though you might have to peer beneath the curved, often grubby glass to read them.

LONG BEFORE PLASTIC CARS…

For those who feel that their cars and motorcycles don’t contain enough metal to set off the pavement detectors at traffic signals, alert reader Gary from Crystal offers this:

Some of us have a similar problem at signal lights where our antique cars, made with wooden frames, do not trigger the left-turn sensors. My 1902 Oldsmobile has this problem, and often I wait a couple of changes, then make a run for it.

Be careful not to crash, Gary — air bags weren’t standard equipment for the 1902 model year.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 6:05 am and is filed under Good to know, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.