Have you ever wondered how traffic signals work? Here’s a look behind the scenes.
There are 91 traffic signals in Knox County with more on the way. Have you ever wondered how those lights know when to change and who makes sure they work?
In part, it’s up to Assistant Traffic Engineer Grady Owen, who was trained by CTR’s Tennessee Transportation Assistance Program.
“Every person and everything to get to the spot that it’s at had to use transportation of some sort,” Owen explained. “Whether it was walking, biking, on a truck, driving a car, so transportation is part of everyone’s daily life.”
That’s why he and his colleague, Traffic Engineer Alan Childers, work behind the scenes at Knox County Engineering & Public Works. Together, they maintain and monitor the county’s traffic signals.
“We get to have a behind the scenes role in helping make everyone’s daily lives a little bit safer and a little bit more efficient and running a little better,” Owen said.
When signals are timed correctly, Childers says they can prevent congestion and risky driving.
“When they’re working properly, they’re going to be safer. If there’s congestion, people are going to take chances, you know. They’re going to run the beginning of the red light and all that sort of thing,” Childers said. “So it’s really safety primarily, but also quality of life issue as I see it.”
As Owen explains, a signal is “everything at the intersection, the lights, the cabinet, the controller.” Traffic engineers monitor the intersections from both the field and behind computer screens. Outside near the roads, microcomputers in metal cabinets control the lights.
Read the full article at WBIR.com.