Take a ride with "King of the Road"

What gets your dander up more than the SR70 road project that's taking years? Or the lights that never synchronize on Manatee Avenue? Or the roundabout on 53rd that goes nowhere?

The traffic discussions get pretty salty some mornings in our office. So, we figured, why not try answering some of those nagging questions?

Enter Josh Robinson, who sent us a proposal for a weekly column at just the right time. He’s a traffic engineer and president of RGI Traffic Engineering in Tampa. In his introduction to us, he noted that his firm has done more than 100 traffic studies in the Manatee/Sarasota area. He’s a licensed traffic engineer in Florida since 1989, and he was offering his technical expertise and knowledge of transportation issues to help educate readers about local traffic issues.

So we hit the road today with “King of the Road.” Robinson’s column will appear every Tuesday on the Herald’s Local cover, as well as on Bradenton.com. Here’s his thinking, as he says in his column today:

“A nifty idea occurred to me one day during a long wait at a traffic light at State Road 70. What if there was a traffic column in the local newspaper where people could talk about their driving experiences? A column written by an actual traffic engineer whose readers could e-mail questions and the engineer, in this case me, could address them. Questions such as why there isn't a traffic signal at a dangerous intersection. Of if a congested roadway is due for improvements anytime soon. This, in turn, would help planners focus on key issues - those faced by the actual drivers. In other words, you the readers would be part of the design.”

So add some ideas to the Comments here, or send an email or letter.

(Now about that column title, "King of the Road." True, Robinson probably won’t be writing much about box cars and cigars. But what a great tune -– and vintage lyrics!)

Joan