City Council Balks at High Cost of Traffic Signals
Tacoma's effort to modernize street safety hits a snag when bid costs far exceed original estimates.
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The high price wanted by semaphore makers for signals on the business streets will probably deter the city of Tacoma from investing. When the council ordered the commissioner to advertise for bids it was estimated that the cost would be only a few hundred dollars. The only bid received Saturday was for $1,155. The commissioner says he will not let the contract.
“The high price wanted by semaphore makers for signals on the business streets will probably deter the city of Tacoma from investing.”
Tacoma’s infrastructure budget battles are a century-old tradition. The transition from human-managed intersections to automated semaphores was a critical step in city planning that still resonates as modern cities debate the costs of smart-city infrastructure.
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