A new kind of traffic light is coming to Baltimore City?s intersections this year as part of a $6.5 million project aimed at making the lights brighter and cheaper.
The project will replace and upgrade existing traffic signals and pedestrian crossing signals from old incandescent luminary lights to new light-emitting diode lights ? making the lights brighter and saving the city energy and money, officials said.
“We are a green city,” George Winfield, director of public works, said as he stood near Baltimore?s Inner Harbor and demonstrated the advantages of the lights.
The $6.5 million project encompasses more than 1,300 intersections throughout Baltimore. The new lights will save the city more than $890,000 annually in electricity bills, officials said.
“This will bring Baltimore traffic signals into the 21st century,” said Al Foxx, director of the Baltimore City Department of Transportation.
The city is also installing new pedestrian countdown signals ? like those used in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco ? to assist pedestrians in heavily traveled areas by letting them know how long they have before the light changes.
The LED technology will also allow officials to install battery backups in the event of an emergency when the lights go out.
“It?s something that would be useful for our evacuation routes,” Foxx said, adding that officials are still discussing how to implement battery backups.
The installation of the new lights began in June and is expected to finish in February 2007. More than 500 intersections, or 41 percent of the project, have been installed so far.
