Editing Henry Barnes (traffic engineer) (section)

==Traffic Engineer and Commissioner==

===Flint, Michigan===
Barnes served in Flint until 1947.

===Denver===
Denver city's first professional traffic engineer from 1947 to 1953, where he oversaw the conversion of Denver Tramways to bus and [[Trolleybus|trolley coach]].

===Baltimore===
Barnes came to Baltimore in 1953 for a one-month job as consultant traffic engineer, but Mayor [[Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr.]] (father of [[Nancy Pelosi]]) was so impressed he hired Barnes as traffic commissioner. At Baltimore, Barnes installed a traffic-control computer that was, in 1957, the largest of its kind in the world. He had the pedestal honoring Johns Hopkins moved to Charles and 33rd Street; previously it had been responsible for a number of fatalities.<ref>{{cite web|first=Tom |last=Chalkley |title=Road Warrior |date=May 30, 2001 |url=http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=2431 |work=Baltimore City Paper |access-date=October 11, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221041235/http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=2431 |archive-date=February 21, 2006 }}</ref> Barnes asked the mayor for a raise from $18,000 to 20,000 and took the traffic commissioner position at New York City when the request was turned down.

===New York City===
Barnes was appointed traffic commissioner to New York City on January 15, 1962, by Mayor Robert F. Wagner, and kept on by Mayor John V. Lindsay. In 1962, Barnes fought with domineering city planner [[Robert Moses]] and killed the planned elevated [[Lower Manhattan Expressway]]. In 1963, he had an idea for expanding the Long Island Expressway capacity in Queens by adding three more lanes in each direction plus a second, four-lane deck above it. The upper deck would have no exits and run inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Island's Missing Highway Links|date=June 26, 2005|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/26liroad.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 11, 2007 | first=Richard | last=Korman}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Long Island Expressway (I-495)|url=http://www.nycroads.com/roads/long-island/|work=nycroads.com|access-date=October 11, 2007}}</ref> The "semi-actuated signal" that allows pedestrians to influence the change of traffic lights was another idea of Barnes, thought to have been introduced in 1964. With regards to the city's traffic signals, Barnes declared to repaint all of the traffic signals throughout the city of New York in the early 1960s. Prior to the early 1960s, traffic signals throughout the city were originally dark olive green. They were repainted yellow in the early 1960s. He was also involved in the completion of converting major avenues to one-way in New York City, a project started in 1949.<ref>{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Luo|title=For Exercise in New York Futility, Push Button |date=February 27, 2004|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/nyregion/for-exercise-in-new-york-futility-push-button.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 11, 2007}}</ref> He reportedly suggested solving Manhattan's traffic problems by making all avenues one-way, north. Barnes endorsed the use of [[seat belt]]s, built municipal [[parking garage]]s and implemented widespread use of [[parking meter]]s.