Montgomery County has finished bringing its 800 1980s-era traffic lights into the 21st century, the Department of Transportation announced.
The old system, which relied on a single central computer to control signal timing, was prone to malfuntioning and has been known to create traffic jams on major thoroughfares, like when 200 signals on Rockville Pike were out of sync last year, delaying as many as 53,000 vehicles.
In fact, a problem with the old system in 2009 pushed County Executive Ike Leggett to accelerate the modernization project.
The new system, which is managed by controllers at intersections in addition to the central controls, cost $25.1 million.
In the next three years, other signals — like school zone and hazard signs — will also be modernized, costing another $10.8 million.
