MANASSAS — The city of Manassas will soon be getting a much-needed upgrade to its traffic signals which are using software that is over a decade old.
“We actually just had our kickoff meeting this morning with the contractor to get started.” Deputy City Manager Bryan Foster said on Thursday.
There are currently 62 signal lights in the city, with the 63rd light being installed near the new Landing at Cannon Branch at the intersection of Godwin Drive and Gateway in the next few weeks.
The new controls will be installed inside the silver control cabinets at signalized intersections.
The signal lights that hang above streets won’t change, and traffic shouldn’t be affected while during the installation process.
Foster explained that the city will also be doing “signal timing optimization” – how long a green light is in one direction and green light in another direction. Foster explained that the end result is improved timing.
“We do get complaints,” Foster said, about traffic in the city.
He cited the citizen survey and said that one of the biggest complaints is traffic and ease of getting around town.
The city’s current traffic controllers are old and have gotten out of date, Foster explained, and this is just a normal upgrade process. Foster said this is the first time the city has had new timing optimization since 2005.
The project is being funded by an $825,903 grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Foster said a new portion of the upgrade is something called “adaptive technology.” The city can use this for a maximum of 17 intersections.
This technology recognizes changing traffic conditions and volumes and will change the timing of the signals to adapt. Foster predicts that this technology will be used on the major corridors in the city such as 28 and Liberia.
Foster projects that the majority of the controllers and software will be online by this fall.
