Will Folsom’s $5.7 million traffic light project aid traffic flow, safety?
A $5.7 million project aims to ease congestion and improve public safety in Folsom by improving traffic light coordination.
The project would upgrade at least 80 of Folsom’s roughly 120 signalized intersections, according to Zach Bosch, a senior civil engineer with the city. Most of these intersections have controllers dating to the 1980s.
Using the new equipment, sensors and video can trigger controllers at different intersections to communicate with one another to identify potential congestion, Bosch said. City staff would then be informed of traffic issues and could adjust signal timing to improve traffic flow and reduce delays. The new controllers would also allow a yield turn signal.
“It would be like telephone call from one controller to the other saying, ‘Hey, we got a large amount of traffic coming down the pipeline,’” Bosch said.
Some of the city’s traffic lights already have these updated controllers, Bosch said, particularly in key corridors such as Folsom Boulevard and East Bidwell Street.
The upgrades come as housing developments expand south of Highway 50, where Bosch said eight traffic signals are not connected by fiber optic cable, limiting the city’s real-time access to intersection conditions.
Equipping the system with updated controllers and fiber optic connections could increase traffic safety by allowing real-time video monitoring.
“If there’s an incident, we can provide a quicker response,“ Bosch said. “We can provide an appropriate response, particularly with our public safety teams. If they know the severity of a collision, they can respond accordingly.”
The video footage could also improve public safety beyond the initial response, Bosch said, by providing data for investigations and future planning.
“We can use that data to support capital projects, safety projects or infrastructure improvements to reduce collisions,” Bosch said.
The $5.7 million project is funded through the state Highway Infrastructure Program and Regional Surface Transportation Program, administered by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.
