City Seeks Grant to Update Traffic Signals

Strongsville will seek a grant from the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency to upgrade nearly every traffic signal in town.

City Engineer Ken Mikula said it's been more than a decade since the signals were last updated -- a project that replaced wires with mast arms, added traffic-detecting equipment and synchronized lights with others in the area.

The new project would install LED lights and a camera system to detect traffic. It would also synchronize all signals on a master controller, instead of four separate systems in use now.

"It would be similar to what we did (last year) on Pearl Road," Mikula said.

Four intersections on Pearl Road got state-of-the-art traffic signals with video technology as part of the widening project. There are about 50 signaled intersections in Strongsville.

Project cost is estimated at $4,726,000. The NOACA grant, if awarded, would pay 80 percent of that.

The advantage of upgraded signals, Mikula said, is better traffic flow through town. Better-coordinated signals reduce the amount of time spent idling at red lights.

"That means a time savings and gas savings," he said.

Optimistically, work would start in 2016, Mikula said.