Traffic Signal System Modernization

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

Montgomery County has long recognized the importance of actively managing the transportation network to meet the increasing demands on the system; and through these efforts, the County has achieved a reputation for technical leadership within the transportation community. A computerized traffic signal system (TSS) was installed in 1980, and had been continuously improved, augmented, and actively supported for 26 years. This TSS exhibited serious and ever-increasing risks resulting from hardware obsolesces and an ever-decreasing number of spare of spare parts. The County undertook a Capital Improvement Project to modernize this aging system. The modernization of the TSS is ongoing, but the key components including a reconfigured communications plant and new central and field control hardware capable of providing the features associated with a state-of-the-art traffic signal system are now in service. This new system allows the County to adequately manage the arterial traffic flows under all types of operational scenarios. This modernized signal system is a cost-effective system that balances the needs of vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists, and transit, enhancing overall mobility, safety, and the quality of life for the County residents. The TSSM provides all of the control and monitoring functions of the old signal system, plus several additional capabilities and tools required to optimize traffic flow along the County arterials and to support future generation applications.