Laura Sturza
The City Council is poised to accept state funding Tuesday for
emergency battery-operated traffic signals, hopefully making drivers
and pedestrians safer as they navigate streets.
Though drivers are supposed to proceed through intersections as if
they are four-way stops during power outages, they often "blast
through them," Police Lt. Wade Taylor said.
"Where people are coming off the freeway, you have a big
possibility that people are not going to be courteous to one
another," Taylor said. "As a result, we would have a significant
injury accident which would further deplete us of manpower."
Emergencies such as floods or earthquakes have forced police to
direct traffic at major intersections, leaving fewer officers free to
attend to urgent safety needs, Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson said.
Working turn signals can also help to give people a sense of
normalcy during emergency conditions, Taylor said.
The battery back-up system, scheduled to be installed by the end
of the year, allows signals to operate for three to four hours with
red, yellow and green lights, or 12 hours with flashing red and
yellow lights, Johnson said.
Installations are planned at 20 major intersections along
Hollywood Way, Buena Vista Street, Olive Avenue and Alameda Avenue.
The batteries are slipped onto control boxes, require no drilling and
won't change the appearance of the traffic signals, Johnson said.
The $80,000 project is being funded with $53,000 from the state's
Energy Commission and $27,000 from the city.
The council is also expected to approve plans for a request of
state funds to pay two-thirds of the cost for battery back-up systems
at nine additional intersections.
