The grant requires a 20 percent match from the city in the amount of about $215,000, which will come from tax increment financing funds, said City Manager William Brock.
The earliest the project is scheduled to get started is July 2012, he said.
Brock said he is reviewing the budget effect of the project with Kacey Waggaman, the city’s director of finance, and that he may ask that those funds — the $215,000 — be budgeted for fiscal year 2013 if there is an issue with available funds.
The project will enable the city to tie all of the traffic signals along Ohio 63 between Traders World and Yankee Road and manage traffic flow from either the dispatch center inside the City Building or the Public Works Facility, he said.
“It will help to alleviate congestion during high flow times and it will enable us to control the intersections in event an accident occurs,” Brock said.
“For one, it’ll have pan tilt zoom cameras at some of the intersections so we can see what’s actually going on up there.”
The system also will allow the city to change the signals during low-flow traffic from the middle of the night on the side streets, give more preference to Ohio 63 or in the event there are high volumes going in and out of the Cincinnati Premium Outlets mall area. Officials can adjust signal timing to make sure flow is occurring, Brock said.
Brock said each light will include a preemption device mostly for the city’s fire and emergency medical service personnel.
“We’ve discussed with the police department adding that to their cars, but the need is really in the fire and EMS area,” he said.
Brock said Liberty and West Chester townships are adding the preemption devices along with the Butler County’s Engineering Office throughout the county.
Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.
About the Author