Atlantic City Weekly

The following three Atlantic City projects are interlinked, as one would not be good without the others. Regardless of doing anything else, these projects should be a top priority for city planning and zoning officials, as they are long overdue. The first of these three projects involves, according to its title description, “major entry corridor traffic signal system upgrades and optimization.” The Atlantic City street system is a grid network with over 190 signalized intersections. Of those signals, 95 are located either on Atlantic or Pacific avenues or on the main corridors that lead into and out of the city.

In recent years, this signal system has operated on one fixed timing plan for all hours of operation, with very limited ability for vehicle signal actuation to increase or decrease green-signal times to correspond with real-time traffic conditions. As a result, the system does not adjust to mitigate traffic congestion that occurs during the many and varying peak-traffic hours for employee trips, casino and resort visitors into and out of the city, and special-event traffic. Because of the potential for shore-area flooding and other potential needs for evacuation, traffic signal operation should be able to be modified quickly, safely, and in real-time to facilitate traffic flow during emergency conditions.

The city should upgrade its traffic signals in these major traffic corridors. The upgrades should include installing the necessary traffic signal hardware along with the fiber-optic cable and electronics necessary to facilitate actuation, communication, multiple-signal timing plans and networking with other signals.

By upgrading the signals to make them compatible with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) operations, the signals will be included in the signal network of the proposed traffic operations. The key planning issues include signal optimization being implemented in coordination with the one-way proposal (if this indeed occurs on Atlantic and Pacific avenues), and work being completed during timeframes that minimize impacts to casino travel periods. The total cost of this project has been estimated at $19.9 million.

It should be noted that in 2007, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), funded and managed a project that inventoried the existing condition of signals along the major Atlantic City roadway corridors to determine deficiencies and equipment requirements for real-time traffic monitoring and system optimization. Working with the city, the CRDA instituted a weekly teleconference with a number of major casinos along the Boardwalk to review signal timing and phasing during different peak hours. As a result, a company under the CRDA’s direction has developed and Atlantic City staffers have implemented revised-timing plans for use with existing signal equipment to minimize delays for all travelers into and out of the City.

Interconnect Existing Signals

The background for the second of the three projects is a complement to the first mentioned, and would upgrade the city’s remaining 95-or-so traffic signals so that the entire traffic grid can be interconnected and coordinated to reduce congestion, and improve evacuation during emergency conditions. The strategy is to upgrade the remaining traffic signals on Arctic and Baltic avenues and other streets to include fiber optics and electronics that will facilitate actuation, communication, multiple-signal timing plans, and networking with other signals. By upgrading the signals to make them compatible with ITS operations, the signals will be included in the network of the proposed regional traffic operations center. The total cost of this project has been estimated at $21.2 million.

Install Traffic Operations Center

Atlantic City has no centralized traffic management coordination program. The city currently has limited staffing focused on traffic issues. Even if all individual signal-timing plans became optimized, there is no existing mechanism for coordinating the operations of the city’s signals themselves, or coordinating them with those in adjacent municipalities. Peak travel periods can differ by time of day and day of the week. One size does not fit all for signal timing in Atlantic City. Also, traffic volumes related to several sporting and entertainment events scheduled in the city justifies a need for real-time traffic monitoring and signal timing changes.

To correct this, the city should provide real-time traffic monitoring at a centralized facility. The objective is to maximize the efficiency of existing roadway capacity and decrease unnecessary and extended delays on the Atlantic City street network and primary regional roadways. The regional operations center would provide the ability to modify traffic signal operations and manage traffic to accommodate evacuation needs in the event of coastal flooding or other emergencies. The total cost of this project is estimated at $20 million.