(Posted Jan. 21, 2015)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
Upgrades are planned for flashing speed limit signs in school zones around Madison County.
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will upgrade existing signs and add new ones in school zones on state and U.S. routes. The Madison County Engi-neer’s Office will do the same for school zones outside of ODOT’s scope of responsi-bility, including on local roads that inter-sect with state and U.S. routes.
The work is set to take place sometime during fiscal year 2016, which runs from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016.
The upgraded systems will feature LED lights to enhance the signs’ visibility and new hardware and software for better communication between signs. ODOT and the county use different systems which aren’t guaranteed to synchronize with one another. The upgrades will fix that, said Madison County Engineer David Brand.
The project includes installing flashing speed limit signs in speed zones that have never had them. ODOT is doing this at Fairhaven School, 510 Elm St., London, and at Tolles Career and Technical Center, 7877 U.S. Route 42 S., Plain City.
The county is adding flashing signs on Linson Road at the Madison-Plains Local Schools complex. The county also is considering adding flashing signs on Kilbury-Huber Road at Jonathan Alder Junior High and on Amity Road at Jonathan Alder High School. The county is upgrading existing signs on Price Hilliard Road at Canaan Middle School and on West Jefferson-Kiousville Road at West Jefferson high school and middle school.
The county must cover the cost of the systems it installs. The freestanding, solar-based units cost $5,000 to $10,000 each.
