Skip to main content

'Green' traffic signs

A new solar-powered, wireless automated rotary drum sign system, manufactured by Skyline Products Traffic Division and currently being deployed in Texas, is being hailed as one of the greenest, least expensive, most flexible means of managing traffic flow.
January 30, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A new solar-powered, wireless automated rotary drum sign system, manufactured by 732 Skyline Products Traffic Division and currently being deployed in Texas, is being hailed as one of the greenest, least expensive, most flexible means of managing traffic flow.

This exclusive technology was designed as part of a breakthrough programme by the 375 Texas Department of Transportation and engineers and consultants 731 Walter P Moore to create more efficient travel through the El Paso, Texas metropolitan area during traffic incidents and closures on the interstate. The new signs require no fibre-optic cable, hard-wired communications or power, making it possible to install them just about anywhere.

The Automated Rotary Drum Sign System is claimed to be the only automated diversion sign of its kind. “Most of the time, they display standard guide sign information. When an incident occurs, information is sent wirelessly and the signs are activated. The drums rotate and provide appropriate detour information,” explains Mark Conway, director of ITS, Walter P Moore.

“Eliminating the need to run power to each site, including trenching, conduit, power, labour and continued maintenance can plausibly save departments of transportation and taxpayers everywhere millions of dollars,” says Adam Lyons, regional sales manager at Skyline Products. “At the same time we are increasing the options for traffic diversion and delivering all the benefits of improved traffic flow, such as reduced driver frustration and reduced CO2 emissions.”

Some 94 sign units, with various message configurations, are currently being installed by long-time Skyline partner, Tri-State Electric, along Interstate Highway 10, US 54 and Loop 375 in El Paso, Texas.

Related Content

  • February 21, 2013
    City of Greenville adopts Wavetronix traffic sensor technology
    The US City of Greenville has begun phasing in new vehicle detection technology at its traffic signals. The state-of-the-art traffic sensors are expected to provide numerous benefits to motorists including improved safety, cost savings, greater mobility and increased productivity. The city’s 115 vehicle-activated signalised intersections currently have more than 900 in-road sensors that detect the presence of vehicles. The loop detectors, which have been widely used throughout the US for more than four de
  • March 14, 2012
    Developing a wireless cooperative traffic management system
    The use by MDOT of 90-foot concrete poles on which to mount CCTV equipment reduces the number of poles needed to monitor a given area and incidences of occlusion
  • March 17, 2014
    Dynamic lane closures cuts time, cost and congestion on Motorway roadworks
    A combination of technologies is leading to major congestion and cost reductions during roadworks on the UK’s motorway network. Innovative construction programme scheduling technology and the deployment of moveable barriers has achieved substantial savings of money and time on UK motorway roadworks managed by the Highways Agency (HA). This combination has set the scene for a new generation of road usage analysis tools. The HA’s objective was to reduce the congestion caused by lane closures during roa
  • March 1, 2013
    Traffic monitoring and hard shoulder running
    Hard shoulder running is on the increase – and the detection and monitoring of incidents on affected roads is occupying the minds of experts across Europe and the US