MANSFIELD — Mansfield Fire Department emergency response times should improve with a new traffic signal system that will clear intersections quicker and more efficiently.
That’s the hope behind a $509,400 “priority signal preemption” project City Council will discuss on Tuesday evening, two-thirds of which will be paid for with the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The new system, being purchased through Path Master Inc. from Twinsburg, Ohio, uses GPS technology to determine where a fire truck or EMS vehicle is located and where it is going.
The system then changes the lights at appropriate intersections to allow emergency vehicles to travel quicker and safer to their destination, according to city engineer Bob Bianchi.
(Above is a video that shows how a GPS-based emergency vehicle traffic signal preemption system has helped fire departments lessen response times and reduce accidents at intersections.)
The city’s current system relies on line-of-sight technology that begins to change a traffic signal when it “sees” the emergency vehicle approaching, according to Bianchi.
“This new system knows where the emergency vehicle is and where it’s going and can quickly go into preemptive mode allow emergency vehicles to move openly and freely through the intersections,” Bianchi said.
“This system replacement has been discussed and evaluated over the last five years,” he said. “We just now have the funding to implement it, a lot of it based on ARPA.”
Mansfield Fire Department Chief Steve Strickling said response times should improve and accidents between motorists and emergency vehicles should be reduced.
“The system we have now has a lot of maintenance issues and is not fully functional,” he said. “There are spots where it’s not working. We have talked about this over time about much more money do want to put into the old system versus getting a system that is newer, better and safer.”
The new system will also allow the MFD to do better response-time analysis in the future, the chief said.
The GPS system will also allow newer vehicles being sold to motorists today to receive a notification on their “heads up” display notifying them if there is an emergency vehicle ahead or approaching from behind, Strickling said.
Of the city’s 145 intersections with traffic signals, Bianchi said 62 are equipped with the older preemption system, which will be replaced with the new technology.
Those are primarily on the city’s main arteries — downtown, Lexington Avenue, Park Avenue, Trimble Road and Ohio 13 near the Possum Run Road interchange near I-71.
The remaining 83 intersections with signals have no preemption system.
“As we replace signal control systems in the future, we will be able to equip those with this new preemption technology,” Bianchi said.
The legislation, scheduled for a vote June 6, will spend $350,000 in ARPA funds and $159,400 from city capital expense money.
