WAVERLY — The Indiana Department of Transportation is testing a new traffic system that tells drivers how fast to go to get a green light at the next intersection — and Morgan County drivers will get a first look at it.
Harry Maginity, spokesman for INDOT’s Southeast District, said the Green Light project is being tested in the Waverly area south of the Ind. 144 and Ind. 37 traffic light. It is radio controlled, and Maginity said the technology works, the radio works, but will drivers work it? That’s the question.
Maginity said as far as INDOT officials know, this is the only system like it in the United States and it was developed in-house.
Motorists on northbound Ind. 37 will see a roadside message board advising them to adjust their speed so they can arrive at the Ind. 144 traffic signal when the light is green. The message board alternates between two displays: “SIGNAL 2 MILES AHEAD” and “XX MPH ARRIVES ON GREEN.” This green light system is designed to send drivers through the next traffic signal without stopping for a red light. Of course, drivers must adjust their speed in accordance with the miles per hour displayed on the message board.
There are cellular modems on both the stoplight and the sign. The timing between a red light and a red light is fixed, but the timing on the green lights adjusts according to traffic flows at each part of the day. INDOT is monitoring the sign 24 hours a day, Maginity said. Data on the number of people getting through on a green light during the sign test will be compared with data INDOT already has on people approaching the stoplights the usual way.
The electronic sign will be left for about three weeks. Maginity said if people haven’t been responding well in that area, the sign will be removed and possibly tried in a different place. But if drivers do pay attention and change speeds, it could open the door for more of these signs, possibly south of Martinsville as I-69 comes in and also one at Ind. 37 and Ind. 252.
Maginity said this system allows for a safer and smoother driving time and minimizes the differences in speed for motorists approaching the traffic signal. It makes for less backed-up traffic and alerts all oncoming traffic that there is a signal ahead.
He said the system is also efficient — there are fewer stops for vehicles and they approach the signal more as a group, saving fuel and lowering carbon emissions. It also reduces a driver’s vulnerability to rear-end crashes at stoplights.
This concept, according to INDOT’s news release, is much like traffic control systems at airports. An air traffic controller adjusts the speeds of incoming aircraft so arrivals at various runways occur in scheduled landing slots.
“If motorists adjust their speeds to what is on the message board, they will not have to stop for red at Ind. 144,” Maginity said last week. “It works if they work it.”
Maginity urges drivers to try the new system and see for themselves how much smoother their commutes will be.