Traffic Signals

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The Franklin County Department of Emergency Services reported a power outage on Lincoln Way East (U.S. 30) from Interstate 81 eastward to the area of the Walmart store Saturday at 11:17 a.m.. The outage affected traffic signals in the area, but power was restored at 1:03 p.m.

Traffic signal work at the intersection of Longmeadow Road and Marsh Pike was scheduled to be completed Friday afternoon, according to a press release from Washington County's website, www.washco-md.net . New signal equipment is being installed as part of the intersection improvements project, according to the press release. The work began Wednesday. The Longmeadow Road-Marsh Pike intersection Improvements project involves upgrading the intersection and widening the roadways to add additional turn lanes, according to the county's website.

Franklin County, Pa., government leaders are considering how to synchronize traffic signals in an effort to improve the flow of traffic. Franklin County's rural planning organization, which is developing a long-range transportation plan, is taking a look at the county's 115 traffic signals. Currently, they are on 12 systems with different types of controllers that don't necessarily communicate with each other. "There are five systems alone on U.S. 30," said Phil Tarquino, the county's planning director.

Traffic will be altered beginning Monday on Memorial Boulevard at the intersections with South Potomac and Frederick streets in Hagerstown, as city workers replace traffic signals at those locations, according to city officials. Pedestrian pushbuttons will also be installed on the signals at those intersections. Drivers have been advised to be aware of flagmen and altered traffic patterns as the work is done over the next several months.

As a member of Hagerstown's signal department in the 1960s, William Shrader Jr. remembers when a signal employee drove through downtown streets while someone with a stopwatch was posted at an intersection to determine how to time the lights. When the $2.1 million upgrade of traffic signals, poles and controllers at 55 downtown intersections is completed next April, computers will synchronize the lights, said Shrader's son, David, who heads the signal-sign division. It could take up to two years to adjust the timing so that drivers traveling at the 25 mph speed limit will find the lights green, David Shrader said.

Most traffic signals in Chambersburg back on regular timing By STACEY DANZUSO / Staff Writer, Chambersburg The Chambersburg Borough Council Wednesday heard a report on the state of traffic signals in the borough. Assistant Electric Superintendent Scott Miller said a borough-wide power outage in January threw off many of the downtown signals, but all but two are now back on their regular timing. He said the signals at Queen and Main streets and Lincoln Way and Second Street were still not functioning at their regular intervals.

HAGERSTOWN andrews@herald-mail.com Businesses are paying almost all of the costs for two new traffic signals at the Centre at Hagerstown, City Engineer Rodney Tissue said Tuesday. At its meeting Tuesday, the Hagerstown City Council approved buying the two lights. One, at Garland Groh Boulevard and Bartow Drive, near McDonald's, will cost about $100,000. The other, at an access road near TGI Friday's and Ryan's Grill, Buffet & Bakery, will cost about $71,000.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Several signals along Sharpsburg Pike and three intersections elsewhere in Washington County are to receive upgraded video equipment that detects traffic movement, a Maryland State Highway Administration official said. The state has been upgrading its traffic-detection equipment so it costs less to repair when such work is needed, said David Buck, spokesman for the state highway administration. Under the old system, traffic going through a left-turn light would be detected by equipment under the turn lane.

tarar@herald-mail.com Washington County will put five traffic signals just outside Hagerstown on flash during the overnight hours in an attempt to save money and to speed up travel time for drivers. Highway Department Director Ted Wolford said Monday that the county doesn't know how much it will save by using flashing signals but it got the idea from the Maryland State Highway Administration. "The state does it and claims they save money," Wolford said. "We feel that it will save some money because you don't have that steady burn.

A Clear Spring resident submitted a question through Mail Call recently, asking about the ongoing roadwork at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Md. 63 (Greencastle Pike) west of Hagerstown. “Observe the Maryland taxpayers' money at work, at Huyetts Crossroads,” the person wrote. “The traffic signal supports that were built and installed one year ago are being destroyed, because they were in the wrong location? Blunder, or not?” Heather Keels, spokeswoman for the Maryland State Highway Administration, wrote in an email Thursday that the traffic signals are being relocated as part of a project to add additional turn lanes and bicycle lanes along Md. 63. “The letter-writer is mistaken about these poles having been installed one year ago; the existing traffic signal poles were put in about 10 years ago when U.S. 40 was widened,” Keels wrote.

Funkstown officials are considering traffic cameras to catch speeders after the issue of drivers speeding through town, particularly on Baltimore Street, came up during Monday night's Town Council meeting. Mayor Paul N. Crampton Jr. asked Town Clerk/Treasurer Brenda Haynes to find out more about speed cameras and whether the town would receive the revenue from them. “It's like a racetrack through here,” Donald Knodle, who lives on West Baltimore Street, said of traffic between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. It's also “terrible” in the evenings, he said.

Maryland officials have lowered the speed limits on interstates and U.S. highways in Maryland to 45 mph, effective immediately and until further notice, and are encouraging people to stay home as during the upcoming height of the storm as conditions continue to deteriorate due to Hurricane Sandy, state officials said Monday afternoon. The speed limit was lowered because of the dangerous combination of speed and high winds, according to the announcement that was released by state officials shortly after 3 p.m. Monday.

Transportation officials from three states will host an informational workshop this month about traffic congestion along the U.S. 340 corridor. The meeting will be held on Aug. 16 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Bolivar Community Center, 60 Panama St., Bolivar. Officials from the West Virginia Department of Transportation's Division of Highways, the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization are expected to attend.

To celebrate my wife's retirement, we decided to make our summer vacation very special. We traveled to the British Isles. I expected to learn more history, and to learn about British culture, but I never expected to garner insight applicable to life here in Washington County, especially by observing a day-to-day activity like driving.  Driving a car there is obviously different. The driver sits on the right hand side of the car.  The car is driven on the “wrong” side of the road.

If attendance for Hagerstown Suns' games in a new downtown facility are on par with projections, city officials estimate an influx of from 1,100 to 2,000 vehicles arriving for an evening at the ballpark. That shouldn't pose a problem, City Engineer Rodney Tissue said Friday as he addressed parking and traffic issues associated with the proposed downtown multiuse sports and events center at City Hall. “We don't see the issue really being a traffic issue as much as being able to efficiently find the parking that's here,” Tissue said during a press conference called on the issue.

Musselman High School Student Council President Beth Whytsell has a plan to avoid the urge to send text messages on her cellphone while driving. “I'm going to leave my phone in my purse behind the seat so there is no temptation to text while driving,” the Musselman High senior said Tuesday morning after signing Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's Safe Driver Pledge. Whytsell, 17, along with fellow student council officers and driver-education students, joined Tomblin Tuesday morning in the high school's student parking lot for a ceremonial bill signing for legislation that outlaws texting while driving.

“Congratulations to The Herald-Mail on the two articles about the post office and the local fire and rescue money. Good articles, you did a good job. Now let's make sure they're all held accountable. Reference to the post office, the free lunch is over. We have to make sure we close post offices, reduce hours and keep paying their benefits, because one of these days we won't have the money to pay the benefits. Thank you for reporting it. Good job, Herald-Mail.” - Leitersburg “Have you ever noticed how many people want tax cuts and want prices held down, but only if it doesn't affect themselves?

Traffic signal work at the intersection of Longmeadow Road and Marsh Pike was scheduled to be completed Friday afternoon, according to a press release from Washington County's website, www.washco-md.net . New signal equipment is being installed as part of the intersection improvements project, according to the press release. The work began Wednesday. The Longmeadow Road-Marsh Pike intersection Improvements project involves upgrading the intersection and widening the roadways to add additional turn lanes, according to the county's website.

A Huntingdon, Pa., man was killed Monday afternoon on Interstate 81 when his northbound vehicle was struck by a tractor-trailer that left the southbound lanes, crossed the median and entered the northbound lanes just north of the Marshall Street and Maugansville Road interchange, according to Maryland State Police. Leroy Corbin, 42, was on his way home from his job in Washington, D.C., when the four-vehicle collision occurred, Sgt. Stacey Cain said Monday night. Both northbound lanes of I-81 were closed after the wreck, and traffic in and around Hagerstown was snarled into the night as northbound traffic was routed off the interstate at the Salem Avenue exit, Cain said.