IBEW Members install new traffic systems in Ohio

(Note: Wagner Smith is a signatory contractor with Locals 82, 648, 212 and 71 in Southwest Ohio Mike Wood)

Dayton Trafc Signals Getting an Upgrade ; Fiber Optic Cables Replacing Copper Wire Network

DAYTON -- For the past few months pedestrians in the downtown central business district have been stepping around bright, orange Wagner Smith Co. trucks that have been popping up at every intersection.

The electrical contractor is installing fiber optic cable that will form the basis of the city's new system of traffic lights and crossing signals -- the first upgrade in more than 50 years.

"The old, copper wire system was well beyond its useful life," said Joe Brzozowski, traffic operations engineer for the city of Dayton. "It was installed in the mid-1950s, just before we went to oneway streets in the early '60s."

Wagner Smith will end up feeding about five or six miles of cable underground, working through 60 intersections in the downtown district. They are also putting up new poles, traffic and crosswalk signals.

The fiber optic cable, which converts an electric signal on one end to light pulses that can trans- mit digital information, has several advantages over the old copper wire.

It will allow each of the signals to communicate with a central computer that can, among other things, tell when a malfunction occurs and automatically notify a technician.

"The old system could not detect if a signal went to green in both directions," Brzozowski said.

"This one automatically puts it in a flashing red mode."

The system will also allow city engineers more easily time the lights through intersections, cutting down on smog-producing idling at red lights.

Fiber optic cable carries a little more up front costs than copper, but it is expected to reduce maintenance costs, according to Julia Wilkie of Wagner Smith.

The $1.6 million project is being paid for by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration for areas, like Dayton, that are in nonattainment of federal ozone standards.

"It is a state of the art system," Brzozowski said.

"It has some fail-safe built in that the '50s-era equipment did not."

The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission is currently studying the feasibility of converting some downtown streets from one way back to two-way traffic.

"The new system will have ample capacity for two-way streets," Brzozowski said.

Wagner Smith is the largest installer of traffic signal systems in southwest Ohio and performs maintenance for more than 125 government entities.

Work in Dayton is expected to be completed by the end of May.

Contact Dale Dempsey at (937) 225-2270.
Story from REDNOVA NEWS:
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=103720

Published: 2004/11/16 21:00:19 CST

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