Published: July 18, 2008 10:22 am            

New traffic signals should make Mercer Street easier to travel

PRINCETON — Traffic may soon flow more smoothly on Mercer Street and surrounding areas.

City Council officials announced a plan Wednesday that will put five new traffic signals, crosswalks and push-button crossing controls on Mercer and Honaker streets. The proposal arose through a partnership between the City of Princeton and the West Virginia Division of Highways that outlines mutual responsibilities regarding the installation, operation and maintenance of the state-of-the-art traffic-management technology.

According to documents reviewed during Wednesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, West Virginia Route 20 intersections that will get the new signals are:

• Mercer Street at Fifth Street

• Mercer Street at Eighth Street

• Mercer Street at Center Street and Park Avenue

• Mercer Street at Honaker Avenue

• Honaker Avenue at North Walker Street

“The scope of these improvements will require replacement of all traffic signal equipment and hardware, including the support poles,” James Sothen, deputy state highway engineer, wrote in an agreement letter to the city.

While the work will essentially require an overhaul of existing traffic signals along Mercer Street, Sothen wrote that the benefits will be great.

“These upgrades will provide the city with a state-of-the-art traffic signal network that should produce significant savings in travel time and reduce vehicle emissions on the city’s street system,” he said. “Each traffic signal will be interconnected and coordinated by an on-street master controller. These traffic signals will form what is known as a closed-loop system.”

That closed-loop system will collect traffic pattern and timing information and relay the data back to the master controller, which will initiate a timing schedule based on prevailing conditions.

The new signals will also use LED modules, instead of incandescent bulbs.

“This change will reduce the power consumption per intersection by approximately 90 percent,” Sothen said. “These LED units are guaranteed for five years and should last 10 years or more.”

In addition to the traffic pattern sensors, City Manager Wayne Shumate said the intersections will also be equipped with technology and controls that would allow police, fire and rescue workers to change the traffic signal in order get to an emergency scene more quickly.

“They can actually change the light,” Shumate said. “It’ll make it a lot safer for our responders, as well as the traffic.”

Police Chief W.L. Harman also indicated the work will include new crosswalks, push-button cross signals “and the whole nine yards,” for pedestrians.

The Public Safety Committee recommended the passage of a resolution entering into the installation and maintenance agreement Wednesday. The proposal will go before the full City Council at Monday night’s July session.

Council will meet at 7:30 at the Princeton Municipal Building on Courthouse Road.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.

        

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