• By WILL SENTELL
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 4, 2009 - Page: 1B

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Tamie Buhler, who was seriously injured in a horrific accident on Interstate 12, is all for plans to put traffic signals on entrance ramps along I-12 between Baton Rouge and Walker.

“I think it would improve the traffic situation,” she said Tuesday night.

Buhler, 39, made her comments moments before state officials held their first public hearing on plans to add the signals, which are called ramp meters.

The meters, which would be the first of their kind in Louisiana, are aimed at making it easier to merge onto the interstate.

They will force vehicles to proceed one at a time along entrance ramps onto I-12, roughly at four-second intervals.

State officials plan to install the meters on 16 ramps at nine interchanges between Essen Lane in Baton Rouge and the Walker/La. 447 exit. They could be in operation by April.

Buhler, who is living in Central, said she was stuck in traffic on I-12 near O’Neal Lane a year ago when the car she was driving was struck from behind by an 18-wheeler, and shoved under another big truck.

She said she lost her left arm, suffered a broken neck and other injuries in the accident.

Buhler and her sister, Angela Andries, 44, were among a handful of area residents who turned out for the hearing.

“I’m thrilled,” Andries said of plans to add traffic signals to entrance ramps. “I am just beyond excited about it.”

The hearing Tuesday night  was the first of three on the ramp plans. The second one is set from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. today at Walker High School.

The third is scheduled from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Southside Junior High School in Denham Springs.

The meters are set to operate primarily during peak commute times — westbound from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and eastbound from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m.