Donna and I would like to share information with you about Beaver Run Road.
You may recall that in past we have discussed the need for providing some
relief to the traffic congestion along Beaver Run Road, primarily around the
Flat Rock Road/Kitten Lake area. Initially it was proposed that MPO funds be
used to study what remedies could be used to help solve this problem. GDOT in
turn offered, at no cost to the city, to implement a software system which will
allow the traffic signals to ?talk? to each other. The idea is if one
intersection is experiencing heavy traffic, that signal would relay the need
for additional timing to the other intersections. In addition, what we
consider to be a normal cycle period for a signal would change, meaning that
the signals would change based on the volume of traffic at the intersection and
not on the timings themselves. As a footnote to all of this, we have been told
that the software itself would be ?learning?, meaning that it should improve
the flow of traffic once it determines traffic patterns in this area.
I am saying all this to let you know that GDOT has installed this software
along the Beaver Run corridor and is in the process of testing it. Drivers
going through these intersections will not be experiencing the normal cycles
they have come to expect. In turn, they may see shorter greens or longer reds
at some intersections than usual. This has the potential to cause some drivers
to believe that the signals are not functioning properly and in turn call the
city to complain. Should this occur, those calls need to be addressed to
either the Traffic Engineer?s Office or to the Planning Department. In
addition, Councilor Allen has been informed that this project is underway.
Finally, we are proposing that GDOT and the consultants for this project come
to the next Council work session on October 31, to describe in detail the
workings of this project and the potential to take it citywide.
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