Backup battery packs will be installed at several of Howard County?s busiest intersections to keep the lights working during power outages.
“You will have no idea a power outage happened. If the light is green, it is going to continue to be green,” said Diane Schwarzman, engineering specialist for the Howard County Traffic Division.
The county initially selected 24 intersections to receive the backups, based on their vital role in providing a route for ambulances to the Howard County General Hospital.
In addition, the backup units are expected to allow police and fire departments to respond more efficiently in an emergency.
“If the lights are down because of a storm, it creates havoc. Having the lights working takes the guesswork out of it,” said Howard County Fire Department Spokesman Bill Mould, who said the lights will make it safer to drive firetrucks during storms.
Police will be protected because they will no longer be required to work at the intersections during power outages.
“A lot of the outages occur during thunderstorms or ice storms. They are really not conditions when you want someone standing in the middle of a dark intersection directing traffic,” Schwarzman said.
During a power outage, the battery packs allow traffic lights to operate for eight to 12 hours, and they can be recharged by the county?s 20 portable generators for longer use.
The first phase of the installation ? scheduled for spring 2007 ? will cost $120,000 from the budget for traffic maintenance. The remaining 60 county-owned traffic lights will have their backup batteries installed by spring 2008.
All traffic lights on state-owned roads, including Routes 40, 1, 29 and 70, will not receive the batteries from the county. The state plans to install them at these intersections, but has not set a date.
Two of the new battery backups, installed as a test in the spring on Centennial Lane, are working well, said Jim Irvin, director of the county?s public works department.
Until all of the intersections are updated, residents should treat any intersection without power as a four-way stop, Irvin said.
