New traffic-light system upgrade to help emergency responders in Lexington County

LEXINGTON, S.C. — A new traffic-light system upgrade in Lexington County will help first responders who serve the community.

Traffic flow changes have started on parts of Sunset Blvd. Many of those changes are happening between Lott Court and Hummingbird Drive. The Town of Lexington have been working on their Adaptive Computerized Signalization System.

Lexington Medical Center is fronting the bill for the $2 million project. It will include, "traffic detection cameras, Bluetooth travel time monitoring devices, and pre-emption control devices, which monitor real-time traffic flow patterns and adjust traffic signal timing for maximum efficiency."

According to a press release from the City of West Columbia, "The upgraded traffic-signal system will allow ambulances transporting patients to Lexington Medical Center to utilize onboard traffic-signal emitters to safely and efficiently move through the improved intersections, in the hopes of reducing response times. The emitters interact with the updated traffic signals to ensure that all traffic signals ahead of an ambulance running lights and sirens turn green, so that the ambulance can move through the intersections."

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12 ambulances have the devices installed and they look to add four more by the next fiscal year. The county hopes to install it on all 28 vehicles in the future. The cost for this technology on each ambulance is $4,200.

The project will also impact portions of the City of West Columbia on Sunset Blvd.

“Lexington Medical Center is glad to work together with our community partners to help improve the flow of traffic on Highway 378,” said Tod Augsburger, president & CEO of Lexington Medical Center. “Importantly, this project will allow ambulances to arrive at our hospital faster and provide our patients with lifesaving medical services in the most timely manner.”

Officials with the City of West Columbia says they are now working on testing the system to see if any changes need to made to improve performance.

Fire trucks with the county and the City of West Columbia will be equipped with traffic-signal emitters.