MORGANTOWN – Imagine how difficult it must be to perfectly program timed traffic lights to optimize the flow of traffic in a densely populated urban area.
Now imagine doing it from two cities over, or maybe 150 miles away.
That, in a nutshell, is the setup when it comes to traffic lights in West Virginia.
If Morgantown, or any other city in the state, needs to alter the timing of lights to better accommodate daily traffic, emergencies or special events, it requires someone somewhere else to make it happen.
“Yes, oversight of the timing programmed into signals is handheld centrally by the Traffic Division in Charleston. If issues are reported with the timing of signals, those issues are investigated by our office remotely, by our field technicians, or by an on-call electrical contractor that we have in place,” DOH Director of Traffic Engineering Ted Whitmore explained.
But why couldn’t it be done here, by someone who sits through these lights and experiences local traffic?
Members of the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board would like to find out.
“There’s been quite a bit of discussion about RAISE Grants and potential grant opportunities that have come our way. We’ve been encouraged to explore big ideas,” MPO Executive Director Bill Austin said. “One of the big ideas that we’ve come up with has been the potential for exploring a traffic control center here, just so we could oversee and have better communication with the operation of the signals moving forward.”
The board encouraged Austin to initiate those discussions.
It was explained that the funds sub-allocated to be directed by the MPO each year could help cover the cost of the physical location and needed personnel.
“It would allow the implementation of several timing routines to match the area’s traffic. For example, peak morning traffic has different characteristics than peak afternoon traffic, both of which are different from midday peak traffic and basketball game traffic or football game traffic,” Austin said. “A good portion of the signals in our area are capable of being programmed to match these peaks but it is simply not being done because all signal control is in Charleston, and since they monitor the whole state, they don’t have the manpower to personalize the programming for any one area.”
Whitmore said perceived timing issues are often found to be broken or malfunctioning vehicle detection equipment.
He said that if a timing issue is identified, adjustments can be made remotely in some cases, but not all, noting “In many cases a site visit is necessary. WVDOT maintains a very large network of traffic signals which vary in age. Not all signals have remote communications established.”
If this idea were to get the blessing of the state, and that’s a significant “if,” it would be a first in West Virginia.
“Establishing operational facilities outside of Charleston is not being considered at this time,” Whitmore said. “When issues are reported at key locations necessitating action quickly, if a site visit is necessary the WVDOT keeps a technician as well as our on-call contractor on call 24/7 to allow for response in typically no more than a few hours.”
Even so, Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom said he believes it’s worth the ask.
“Governor-elect Morrisey has mentioned that he wants to do something significant in this area. I believe this is something that not only supports his goals and the state DOH, but it could resolve many of the problems up here,” Bloom said.
Bloom said he believes it would allow for quicker responses to potential emergencies, like critical traffic lights going dark.
“An emergency is when a light goes out Friday night before a football game on 705 and we can’t get it fixed for 48 hours. Now we need to get help from Charleston or the Huntington area, and they approve it and send someone out, often from another state, to come down to fix it,” Bloom said. “We’re looking at the feasibility of being trained and having the people up here who could solve these problems. Why wait when we could solve these problems in a couple hours before they become a safety factor?”
