Traffic technology now up to speed

Andrea Bryan, Permanent Secretary and Hon Gilbert
McLean, Ministry of Health Services, Agriculture,
Aviation and Works; Colford Scott, MD National Roads
Authority, Edison Jackson, graduate engineer, National
Roads Authority, Douglas Mills, Technical Service
Manager, Control Specialists Company

Douglas Mills Technical Service Manager, Control
Specialists Company shows the new technology

Virginia Rohrborn, Engineer with the overhead team
for Control Specialists Company, in action

Kevin Coppenhaver, Engineer with the overhead team
for Control Specialists Company, in action

Delroy Myles, Engineer with the National Roads
Authority, Edison Jackson with the National Roads
Authority, Jesse Phillips, foreman of the overhead
team for Control Specialists Company, Douglas Mills,
technical Service Manager with Control Specialists
Company

Wednesday,  December 15, 2004

The destruction caused by Ivan has given the National Roads Authority the opportunity to give road junctions across Cayman a complete overhaul.

Ten years ago traffic system control experts, Control Specialists Company, who hail from Central Florida, installed all the traffic light systems at road junctions in Cayman. Now, they have come back to rewire each junction and ensure that state-of-the-art equipment is fitted.

Douglas Mills, the company’s Technical Service Manager, explained the process: “We came to Cayman around four weeks ago and realised that the wiring at the traffic light junctions had oxidised and was on its last legs. As new cabinetry had not arrived at that time we had to begin working with the old cabinets that house the electrics at each junction, but the circuits had a limited time before they would fail completely. Initially we wired the system to work simply on a timer system, adjusted for different times in the day. It was not perfect but better than nothing.”

Mr Mills continued: “Most junctions in Cayman relied upon sensors in the road to direct traffic flow, apart from the Jacques Scott junction, which was the first to have cameras fitted a couple of years ago. Now that we are in the process of refitting the junctions we are able to do away with the old sensors and fit cameras at each junction. Each junction now has new cabinets which are much more sturdy than the predecessors.”

Hon Gilbert McLean Minister for Health Services Agriculture Aviation and Works attended a briefing at some of the road junctions being worked upon last week, along with Permanent Secretary to the Ministry, Andrea Bryan and Colford Scott, Managing Director of the National Roads Authority.

Mr McLean commented; “Government quickly realised that the system needed to be completely reworked so we brought in Mr Mills and his team to install the best quality equipment. New camera equipment will ease the traffic flows at junctions and should make a serious improvement to congestion.”

Mr McLean continued: “The safety of the public is considered of great importance by Government and, although it cost extra for Government to bring in the experts so quickly we placed a priority on getting the traffic moving properly. Control Specialists Company has done an outstanding job in putting in place state-of-the-art equipment, which will monitor the traffic much better and provide better solutions to the traffic control in Cayman. We hope that the company will be able to install this new equipment at the last remaining junctions to be updated, at the harbour front in George Town, by the end of the year.” 

Edison Jackson, graduate engineer with the National Roads Authority has been working with Mr Mills and his team to ensure that he and his colleagues are up to speed with the maintenance of this new equipment.
He said: “Using cameras to direct traffic is much more cost effective than sensors, which need higher maintenance. Also, the team is installing LED traffic lights instead of the old incandescent bulbs, another cost saving device, as maintenance is low.” 

Mr Jackson will be attending a one-week course with the traffic control specialists in Florida early next year, to keep him informed on the latest technology and developments.

Another new traffic feature recently installed is the count down system to allow pedestrians to gauge how much time they have until the traffic lights turn green.

Mr Mills said: “This has been a big hit in the area of Florida that our company works, especially at Disney, where often there are 100 people attempting to cross seven lanes of traffic. Giving them the knowledge to decide whether they have time to cross the road or not has had a two-fold result. It is an important safety feature for pedestrians and it also speeds up traffic, as traffic can flow and not be prevented from moving by pedestrians caught in the middle of the road while the traffic lights have turned green.”

While Cayman’s roads are unlikely to endure such high volumes of pedestrian traffic, features such as these will ensure that Cayman’s pedestrians can enjoy the highest level of safety.

Mr Mills stated that this new equipment is not expensive as it feeds off the same electronic equipment as the traffic light system and does not require separate maintenance.

Back...