LOWER POTTSGROVE – How many times have you sat behind the wheel at a red light on High Street fantasizing about all the lights in front of you turning green just as you get to them?
Well, the technology exists and that fantasy may become a reality by 2017.
The project is one of hundreds of transportation projects approved by the Delaware Valley Planning Commission in which more than $10 billion worth of work was approved in the greater Philadelphia area.
Called ‘the closed loop system,’ the project will use fiber optic cable to connect traffic signals at 66 intersections in Pottstown, Lower Pottsgrove and North Coventry, allowing for remote control of the signals.
Automated programs in the municipal buildings could put the signals on a ‘night-time’ or ‘rush-hour’ program, as well as manual changes, such as when emergency vehicles need to get through an intersection as fast as possible.
A ‘transponder’ system in police and emergency vehicles could also make that work, but it is not included as part of the project.
Costs for such a system could run as high as $600 per vehicle, said Lower Pottsgrove Police Chief Michael Foltz.
The system, and its benefits and delays, has been talked about for years in municipal offices around the Pottstown area and more than one official has expressed doubt about the timetables.
But a presentation July 24 before the Lower Pottsgrove Township Commissioners offered hope that the $11 million project will finally move forward.
Wayne Dressler, from Traffic Planning and Design, one of several firms involved in the project, told the commissioners the final design for the project will be completed in December of this year and the project will be put out to bid in May of 2015.
Construction completion is scheduled for 2017, Dressler said.
Full funding for the project comes from the federal government, he said.
In addition to the technological capabilities, the project also includes:
* Modernized and upgraded signals and equipment with LED signals;
* Battery back-up systems; * New signs and pavement markings;
* ADA pedestrian improvements such as curb ramps and count-down pedestrian signals.
‘Most of the fiber-optic cable is already installed, but the connections to the municipal buildings have not been made yet,’ Dressler said.
He told the commissioners that the order in which those connections will be made will be determined as the project progresses.
