August 5, 1914: Introducing? Traffic LightsEarly in the twentieth century, new inventions would often be big news, as people excitedly paid attention to the technology that would soon change their lives. The installation of the first electric traffic lights in Cleveland was a good example ? or it would have been, except that the previous day, Germany had invaded Belgium. In response, Great Britain declared war on Germany, and World War I was under way. Though the US wouldn?t join the war until 1917, all eyes were turned to Europe. For the record, those historic traffic lights, designed by James Hoge, had only two colors: red and green

We were on the Northern Eyewall of Hurricane Andrew back in '92.  Luckily our house wasn't damaged very badly although several neighbors lost roofs.  One of the things we noticed while out after the storm was that the traffic lights were out.  Little did we know that it would be 3 - 4 months before we got them back in our area and 6 mos. to a year or more in Cutler Ridge, Homestead, and Florida City to the south.  Boy were we glad to see the military.  They kept us from a complete and horrific traffic meltdown.  Soooo frustrating!