KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

After months of construction, Jackson Street now has three new traffic signals at Grundy, Lincoln and Lauderdale streets, but more work is still to be done.

Earlier this spring, Tullahoma Utilities Authority (TUA) began work on replacing the over 40 year old traffic signals at the intersections of Jackson Street at West Lauderdale, West Lincoln and West Grundy streets. The $1.2 million project was previously approved by the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Alderman in December 2021, with S&W Contracting’s bid being approved. All of the city’s traffic signals are owned and maintained by TUA, meanwhile the city finances ongoing maintenance for the lights through an annual fee paid to TUA.

While the project was up and running in August, many residents noticed that the lights were not in sync fully. According to Brian Coate, TUA Vice President of Electric and Fiber Systems, while the contractor informed them that the signals were up and running, they neglected to inform TUA that they had not implemented or programmed any of signals’ smart controllers.

“All three signals have been running on a default timing setting,” Coate told The News. “This has caused a good bit of confusion, as the lights do not coordinate, leaving Jackson Street stopped at one or another out of sequence.”

Other issues that Coate noted were that the detection system was not calibrated, so some side street traffic was not being detected, leaving those drivers waiting for several minutes, and the communication links were not connected, which would leave one controller not knowing that the other was overloaded with traffic. Coate said that TUA has been on daily calls with the contractor, and have been pushing to get them to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. He added there have been some delays due to equipment not working properly when configured, as well as the contractor scheduling. Despite the delays, the contractors are onsite this week making emergency adjustments to make the flow of traffic better until the rest of the control system is connected. These adjustments include connecting the GPS timing, setting the program and verify operation, verifying all the settings and confirming the operation as intended.

“We continue to oversee this project and have been working to keep everyone informed,” Coate said. “We are hoping by the end of this week it will be working well.”

A major change that has got drivers’ attention is that the traffic signals no longer have left turn arrows to get onto Jackson Street. Coate said before replacing the signals, the city of Tullahoma commissioned a study of the three intersections to consider some recommendations to improve traffic flow on Jackson Street, which had increased over 50% from the last time a study was done, as those intersections “must operate as a ‘team’ because they are spaced so close together.”

“After counting traffic flows and reviewing the current signal operation, the consultant recommended a streamlined approach that would involve a smart controller and no left turn phases,” Coate said. “The left turn green arrow-yellow-arrow-red cycle takes several seconds to complete, all of which time the Jackson Street traffic is suspended. Multiply this by six lanes (two opposing at each intersection) and this creates a significant delay in traffic. Furthermore, the traffic counts on the side streets did not meet the threshold of where most traffic engineers would add a five-section (with turn arrow) signal.”

After the consultant provided documentation as to how much this elimination will improve traffic flow on Jackson Street, Coate said the city engineer, the city administrator and TUA unanimously agreed with the consultant’s assessment and recommendation.

As for concerns about no longer having turn arrows to get onto Jackson Street, Coate said the smart controller uses radar camera detection on each side street to “see” someone in the either the turn lane or the straight lane. From there it signals to the system to stop traffic on Jackson and allow the side streets to cross and/or turn.

“Because the system (will) know there are still people wanting to turn, it will automatically extend the green light until all traffic has a chance to either cross or turn. Each intersection communicates to the others to tell them to ‘hold up, we have more people wanting to turn!’”

City officials put out a statement on social media to let residents know that they were aware of the issues with the installation of the traffic lights and have been communicating with TUA about the issue.

“TUA has assured us that once the system is entirely on board, the timing and traffic flow will cease to be an issue,” city officials said. “The city will remain in contact with TUA and continue providing input until this has been resolved. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”