Posted by
daver in
Safe City on
February 25, 2010 |
no responses Here’s a short note from our City Engineer with an update on the status of the Stonewater Drive extension and the new traffic signal at Stonewater and SR 59 between Don Joseph Toyota and the Klaben Ford Dealership.
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The new signal at Stonewater and W. Main Street has looked complete for the last several weeks. However, the preemption notification light has been on back order for several months. This light lets emergency vehicle drivers know that the signal registers their presence and need to travel through the intersection without stopping. On Tuesday this week (February 16) the contractor installed this small but vital equipment. The signal has gone through several performance tests and will soon be set into operation. The following schedule will be followed to get the signal into operation.
- On 2-22-10, Thompson Electric will be back to finish the remaining construction (hookup of the interconnect wire and telephone drop) and Pathmaster will program the controller, establish the video detection zones and program the audible pedestrian signals. By the end of the day on the 22nd, the traffic signal will be put into flash until 3-1-10.
- On 3-1-10, the signal will be switched to stop-and-go mode (normal operation) and the 10-day performance test will begin (this is the final test of the signal). On this day, the contractor will also remove the barriers from the bridge to allow through traffic to use Stonewater Drive. During the 10 day performance test, the signal must function without major deficiencies that would cause the signal to default to flash. We will be using temporary signs (“Stop Here on Red”) to indicate where traffic is to stop on West Main Street and Stonewater Drive. When the weather breaks, the temporary signs will be removed and appropriate stop lines will be marked on the pavement.
After passing the 10-day performance test, the signal can be subjected to final inspection prior to our acceptance.
The traffic cabinet is installed and the timing is set up. We will be installing video detection (to activate the signal) at this and all future intersections. Basically it is a “box” drawn on a video feed instead of the old loops cut in the pavement. When the cameras recognize a vehicle entering the “box” it notifies the controller that someone is in the zone. No wire loops in the pavement to be torn up during repairs or resurfacing. The zones are able to be changed via a laptop and in the future from the Traffic Engineer’s Office at Engineering.
Currently only SR 261 and SR 43 have video detection.
