New traffic signal system launched

Lee County Department of Transportation, Lee County Emergency Medical Services, and South Trail Fire Rescue District recently launched the traffic signal preemption system pilot program. The system is a means to ensure effective intersection signal priority control for safe and rapid emergency response.

Using GPS coordinates and when activated by emergency lights, a transmitter installed in an emergency vehicle will send vehicle speed, heading, longitude and latitude information to a receiver at an upcoming intersection where it requests green light priority through normal controller functions. By using GPS coordinates of the vehicles and sending the priority requests through the normal controller functions, the impact of the system should be transparent to the public.

Engineers with Lee County Traffic along with representatives with Lee County EMS, South Trail Fire Rescue District, and Lee County Fleet Maintenance have completed testing the initial implementation of the 3M Opticom GPS Priority Control System. The pilot program went live on July 16.