The City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County Schools have teamed up to make it safer for pedestrians using school crossings as kids headed back to school this month.
There are 34 public schools in the city of Chattanooga with yellow flashing beacons indicating that the 15 mph school zone speed limit is in effect. Previously, some school zone beacons had clocks that could only be programmed on location, while other school zone beacons were manually actuated.
The Citywide Services Traffic Signals team installed intelligent, programmable timeclocks at each of these school zones that allow the flashing beacons to operate on a pre-programmed schedule for bell times, including known school holidays and in-service days.
Additionally, they can be managed from the city’s Traffic Management Center in the event of an emergency closure, late start, or early release.
“Upgrading Chattanooga’s school zone beacons to a centralized, programmable network modernizes our city’s traffic management while freeing up vital public safety personnel,” said Ryan Huddleston, Director of Intelligent Cities for the city. “Managing these signals remotely from our Traffic Management Center gives our city a more responsive safety system to protect students and families at our schools."
Hamilton County Schools welcomed more than 45,000 students back to the classrooms in August. The change to pedestrian crossings helps to slow traffic and make it safer for students traveling to and from school each day.
“Keeping our students safe is always our top priority, and that starts before they even step into the classroom,” said Mike Griffith, HCS Student Safety Director. “We appreciate the City of Chattanooga’s partnership in automating school zone signals. It’s another step toward making our school communities safer and helping protect the students and families we serve.”