DOT installs plates, shades to ease traffic confusion

State transportation crews plan to add backplates and louvered shades to upgraded downtown signal heads.

The measures are meant to alleviate some of drivers' confusion when they approach an intersection and are faced with a near red light and far green one.

The backplates will surround the signals heads and should help to draw the driver's attention to the immediate red light, said Carol Jones, traffic signals and systems engineer for the Department of Transportation.

Engineers also plan to add louvered shades to the far green signal to dim the light. The shades have been described as similar to the heating and air conditioning vents in a car.

"(The shades) won't completely block out the light, but it should de-emphasize it," Jones said.

Those changes are minor, she said, and should not add much to the overall price tag of the project, which is still being estimated at anywhere from $350,000 to $375,000.

The monies are federal dollars funded through the pavement and reconstruction fund, according to the office of Sen. Greg Ryberg, R- Aiken.

Before the shades are added, but about the same time the backplates are being installed, sensor loops will be embedded into the roadway to better adjust the lights for motorists turning left.

The loops will sense whether motorists are present in the intersections waiting to make a left-hand turn. If there are no cars, the signals will switch to the next phase to let waiting motorists proceed.

If there are cars waiting to turn, the vehicles will be allowed to clear the intersection before oncoming traffic is given the green light, engineers say.

The loops and the intersection cameras fixed to the signals should sense traffic and adjust the lights appropriately, Jones said.

Camera malfunctions experienced Wednesday delayed officials from making timing modifications, but the camera manufacturer was in Aiken on Thursday to make the necessary repairs, said City Manager Roger LeDuc.

"The cameras were basically telling the computer there was traffic present and turned the lights green even though there was no traffic waiting," LeDuc explained. "That has been corrected."

Signal timing is also being adjusted to meet the needs of fluctuating traffic patterns in Aiken.

The lights on Richland and Park avenues have been coordinated to keep weekday traffic flowing from York Street to Pendleton Street with as few stops as possible, but engineers will coordinate those same lights to better keep traffic moving on side streets during the weekend.

Jones said she traveled Park Avenue, from York Street to Pendleton Street, after the latest round of changes were made and cut the travel time by more than half.

Last week it took as long as eight minutes, she said.

She said she traveled the same stretch in as short as a minute and 10 seconds or as long as three minutes.

The upgrades will likely continue intermittently for the next few weeks in Aiken, officials said.

Public Safety officials have still received complaints, but LeDuc said he has traveled the downtown intersections several times since the modifications have been made and did not see any backups on Richland or Park avenues.

"Some adjustments still need to be made to Chesterfield," he said. "But, they will be here today and next week if necessary."

State engineers will also draw up street marking plan that will allow the City to take down the barricades still present downtown.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.