'Smart' Signals Come To Bartow County

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- Georgia Department of Transportation in partnership with Intelight, Inc. announced last week that it's deployed so called “smart” signals at 1,000 intersections throughout the state.

The project is part of a statewide upgrade which converts traffic lights to an up-to-the-second traffic signal controller technology. The new software provides significant improvements to how Georgia DOT and local agencies can operate their signal systems.

The proactive response will no longer require engineers to rely on citizen complaints or on-site checking of signals. Rather, the system will allow for signals to automatically provide feedback to a central system in the state's Traffic Operations Center in real time.

This allows for engineers to focus attention where it is needed.

“We are thrilled to reach this major milestone on such a quick timeline and look forward to continued deployment throughout the state,” GDOT State Traffic Engineer Andrew Heath said. “The software allows us to understand the performance of each signal by monitoring data that comes in every tenth of a second. Our engineers are able to make real time adjustments to the signals to optimize performance based on actual roadway conditions.”

There are 52 so-called smart signals across Bartow County, said Georgia DOT Northwest spokesperson Mohamed Arafa.

Most are along intersections on S.R. 113/Main Street in Cartersville, including Cherokee Street, Church Street, MLK Drive, Porter Street, Nelson Street, Erwin Street, Etowah Drive, Gilmer Street and Postell Street.

Others are also located along U.S. 41/Joe Frank Harris Parkway at Home Depot Drive, Mac Johnson Road, Walmart Drive, South Bridge Road, Hospital Drive; S.R. 20 at Cline Smith Road, Hardin Bridge Road, Conference Drive, Willows, S.R. 20 Spur; S.R. 140 at Princeton Boulevard; and on S.R. 61 at Douthit Ferry Street.

This response to operational issues improves signal operations on Georgia’s busiest corridors while also providing transparency to the public on system performance, the agency said.

The 1,000 intersection milestone was achieved in late July and marks the beginning of the final project goal of deploying “smart” signals at approximately 9,000 intersections.

Along with Cartersville, the project includes signals in metro Atlanta, Thomaston, Gwinnett County and Athens-Clarke County. Approximately, 350 smart signals have been deployed at intersections in northwest Georgia.

The software was launched in fall 2015 and is scheduled to be fully deployed on Georgia DOT-maintained signals across the state by fall 2017. The Department is also providing this system to local agencies at no cost, with statewide deployment expected to be complete by 2018.

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