We all know them. Heck, some of us are them. Those older geeks caught between old-school and high-tech. While surfing the Internet, we see an interesting Web page and immediately grab our notepad and pencil and write down the URL. We take notes on a legal pad during teleconferences. We don’t feel like we’ve really saved a document until we’ve printed out a hard copy. We try, but we just can’t fully get in tune with the 21st century.

Well, take heart, those of you like me. We are not alone. According to this story from the Arizona Republic, the town of Gilbert, Arizona is just like us. “It’s an unassuming, slightly cluttered room, filled with computers and design scrolls strewn about the floor. It almost resembles a forgotten storage area, except that it’s the Gilbert traffic control center. The Advanced Traffic Management System center monitors 83 intersections in seven town traffic zones through a mixture of camera, radio, fiber optic and computer technology. Any time difference - even a few seconds - can throw the Gilbert traffic grid off-kilter, making ATMS vital. Nearly $1.7 million in federal funding and an additional $450,000 from the town has been spent on the control center. Yet, with major road construction projects under way in Gilbert and the incoming Santan Freeway set to increase local traffic volume, staffing at the town’s traffic center remains low. No full-time employee monitors traffic from inside the center and it remains empty most of the day. If signal delays, outages or other problems occur, the town usually learns of them through phone calls or town workers, not from the center itself, Mike Sutton, Gilbert’s senior traffic engineering technician, said. On one computer, tiny green, red and yellow arrows flash about, showing signal statuses at particular intersections. Light lengths, intersection volume, occupancy and camera images are also collected and pulled up on screen to quickly assess traffic conditions. A full-time center employee would be able to cut down on the time spent fielding phone calls and driving around because many repairs can be solved with a mouse click, Sutton said. Gilbert wants its residents to continue to communicate with the town and traffic officials in case there are bumps in the signal system, Sutton said. ‘We really do call people back and we really do appreciate citizens’ input,’ he said.”
Thank goodness an old-school, low-tech backup system like the telephone exists to support all those high-tech electronics.