Garden Grove : Updated Traffic System Expected to Save Money

Garden Grove is implementing a traffic monitoring system that is expected to save the city more than $40,000 per year by using area cable television lines instead of leasing lines from the telephone company.

A rarely used application of cable technology permits the traffic signal control communications system. Similar applications are being used in just two other cities in the United States, according to traffic engineers working with the Garden Grove system.

The city expects to save money by transmitting over cables that it uses as part of a franchise agreement with Rogers Cable of California. After the initial activation costs, there are no ongoing fees for data transmission via these cables.

“We now have the capability, funds and technology to have two-way communication between the master computer in City Hall and the controlling equipment at each city intersection--everything needed to keep traffic moving,” City Manager George Tindall said.

Initial funding from a Federal Aid Urban program, administered by Caltrans, was used to upgrade the city’s master traffic computer and to purchase the individual signal controller.