HONOLULU (KHON2) — Traffic along the Leeward Coast is notoriously bad and those who regularly drive along Farrington Highway know the traffic lights can sometimes add to the backlog.
But city and state officials are hoping to ease some of those frustrations by upgrading traffic lights, according to Hawaii Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said.
“Traffic signals have controllers in them and right now the controllers that we have are legacy controllers, very old,” Sniffen explained. “So they have two base times. They have two timings. One that gives equal time with side streets and main line.”
Sniffen said the smart signals they will be installing will have an unlimited number of timings
“It will have sensors in there to ensure that it can take the needs of the public into consideration right now. Give us a recommendation of how we can adjust the systems and make sure its a lot more efficient right now so we can change things live,” he said.
The state is collaborating with the city to get it done. There are also plans to install and upgrade fiber optic cables and new broadband system.
“We’re going to do that to do smart signals along this whole coast,” City Department of Transportation Services Deputy Director Jon Nouchi said. “Every traffic signal we have along here, I think at last count I think we have 22. We’re going to hook that up to the broadband, we can actually sync lights better.”
It is all part of a larger modernization program that involves installing new traffic signal controllers across Oahu.
According to a spokesperson from DOT, there are already dozens of smart signals installed in Honolulu.