Audio smart lights make crossing easy

By ANN RICHARDSON
Staff Writer

OCEAN CITY - Have you noticed that it's a little easier to get across Ninth Street this summer? Thanks to a new smart signal, or Smart Light technology, an often daunting and complicated task will now be a lot easier for motorists, and for the visually impaired, crossing Ninth Street will be a lot safer.
"We tied all of the signals to work off of one master controller," said Dale Foster, Cape May County engineer. "They all have the same background cycle, and that really helps traffic flow. What you don't want to do is go across town one light at a time.
"If the lights are not properly timed, you might get through West only to have to stop at Asbury heading east," he said. "Then you have to stop again at Central and so on. It makes it a lot easier and it makes a lot more sense for motorists to be able to get through a string of lights before having to stop."
In addition to easing traffic flow, Smart Light technology assists the visually impaired.
"The light at Ninth Street and Asbury Avenue was identified for an update," said Foster. "There were no pedestrian displays, and we wanted it to be more friendly. The talking displays count down."
If you stand at that corner, you'll hear the countdown - 10, nine and so on.
"You'll see them all across Ninth Street, on West, Asbury, Central, Wesley and Ocean," said Foster. "The corner of 10th Street and West Avenue and the corner of 14th Street and West Avenue also have this technology."
The light makes a chirping sound, and the visually impaired are trained to listen for the chirp. They push a button, and it instructs them to "cross West Avenue" or "cross Asbury Avenue."
"It's pretty neat," said Foster, adding that local residents and visitors need to be more aware when traveling through these signals that the visually impaired may be attempting to get across. "We put these in to encourage the visually impaired to use them, so it would be a very good idea for motorists to use caution."
Ocean City Communications Director Michele Gillian said the administration is trying to make the city not only more pedestrian friendly but more accessible for handicapped residents and visitors as well.
"We're always trying to improve," said Gillian. "Ocean City would like to be known as a community that is accessible and friendly for everyone."
The city is also attempting to make Ninth Street, the "gateway" into town a more attractive entrance. The new signals enhance the wireless look of the downtown and match the new black streetlights.
Most signals, said Foster, are run on a timed basis but not connected to the string of lights up and down the street.
"They're not interconnected, what one is doing does not affect what the rest of them are doing," he said. "With this type of situation, it's difficult to get through a string of lights without having to stop."
There are two types of traffic lights in Ocean City, fixed time, with the same firing cycle after cycle or semi-actuated, which stays green most of the time, changing only on the occasion where a car arrives from a little used side street.
"In a busy intersection, you'll see a fixed time light, in the more remote areas you'll see the semi-actuated," Foster said. "In the winter, the light at Sixth Street and Bay Avenue, for instance, will stay green going north and south and only change when a car pulls up on Sixth Street."
Per an agreement entered into last year, the county is responsible for all of the signals in Ocean City.
"Ocean City pays us to do the maintenance of their traffic lights," said Foster.
Citizens do have a voice when a signal is not working correctly.
"I had a call this morning about the traffic light at the corner of 24th Street and West Avenue," said Foster. "It only allowed 10 seconds for crossing."
Loaded down with beach towels, umbrellas, buckets and shovels, families attempting to cross to the beach from the bay side of West Avenue found themselves barely half way across when the light began to change.
"I went up there this morning and we are fixing that," said Foster. "After hearing the problem, we talked to the technician. We now have to talk to the city and tell them that this one needs to be fixed. Some of the lights in town need to be updated."
Foster said another signal, at the corner of Wesley Road and Battersea Road in the Gardens would be checked out next. The signal flips constantly between the two streets, allowing little time for a pedestrian or bike rider.
"If it's flipping very quickly, that might be fine in the winter, but in that type of location, you have to allow a bit more time in the summer. We will look into this," he said.
Changing an operational signal can be very complicated. Changing the timing, such as the light at 24th and West, is relatively simple. But adding or removing a signal or making other changes is difficult.
"Signals are very heavily regulated by the state," said Foster. "There has to be at least five serious accidents per year to have a signal installed. It's a very long and difficult process."
Foster said that Charlie Simonson of the Ocean City Police Department was instrumental in obtaining a grant for signage in other parts of the city.
"A lot of what we are doing is paid for with federal grants," he said.
Traffic lights running east/west across Ninth Street have a large, flat black panel behind them.
"In the morning, you can't see the signal because of the glare of the sun," said Foster. "It's not so much of a problem this time of the year, but in the winter, when the sun is rising and setting lower in the sky, the glare can be very dangerous. It's a big benefit in the winter. You can really appreciate the technology in the winter when there is a lot of glare from the sun."
Foster was one of several Cape May County officials, including Freeholder Director Daniel Beyel, who appeared at the opening of the new Gateway Park on the corner of Ninth Street and West Avenue last month. The park, like the signals, was paid for with grants from Cape May County. Foster demonstrated the lights for Cape May County officials and the public.
As part of a citywide beautification process, local artists with the Community Arts Project are looking into painting large black signal boxes associated with the new smart lights.