Central and computerized control of school-zone signing

Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, Apr 1999

The Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) is responsible for over 60 dynamic school-zone signs on county roads. Based on the time of day, these signs will display lower speed limits at the start and end of school days. The signs vary from flashers with static indications of reduced speed to variable fiber-optic signs.

RCOC must send electrical crews to visit each school sign at the beginning and end of the school year to activate and deactivate the signs and twice to reset the clocks for daylight-saving time. In addition the RCOC commonly receives calls when the clocks in the signs are incorrect. If there is a holiday, snow day, or the school has a vacation, the signs will still operate. Obviously, the RCOC needed a better way to manage these signs.

RCOC operates over 350 traffic signals under Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic Signal (SCATS) control. To help improve school-zone sign management, RCOC is working with TransCore to customize the SCATS system to control school signs. Using customized software, off-the-shelf hardware and dial-up telephone lines, RCOC will be able to significantLy improve the school-zone sign operations. Major changes to the SCATS system will incLude a customized user interface and a new communications setup. SCATS uses dedicated telephone lines for second-by-second communications. The school-zone adaptation will use dial-up telephone lines because constant communication is not necessary, and dial-up telephone lines are more cost effective.

Benefits of the computerized school-zone signs are numerous. Communications with each school-zone sign will update the clock on a daily basis to insure that the signs will activate at the appropriate times. Through the user interface, planned school vacations and holidays can be put into a schedule, therefore deactivating the signs when school is not in session. Unplanned school closures (i.e., snow days) can be centrally input at the RCOC to stop activation of any individual school sign. Another benefit of improved school-zone operation is the greater likelihood that drivers will obey the speed limits, thereby improving safety near schools. Finally, the electrical crews are making over four trips/year to each intersection and expect this to be reduced to just over one trip/year, which will save money and resources. The RCOC is in the development stages of this computerized school-zone sign project. Test trials were to be done at two schools in the fall of 1998, and widespread operations should begin by the start of school in September 1999.

For additional information, please contact Gary Piotrowicz, Road Commission for Oakland County, 1200 N. Telegraph, Bldg. West 49, Pontiac, Mich. 48341-0421 USA; 248/8587250; fax: 248/858-7251; piotrowiczg@rcoc.org.

For more information or to submit World Transport News Items, contact Russell W Houston at ITE Headquarters. Additional international transportation information is available on ITEs Web site at http://www.ite.org.

By Gary Piotrowicz, FAST-TRAC Program Manager, Road Commission for Oakland County, and Dave Relyea, TransCore