Updated traffic-light system to improve emergency response along Highway 378 in Lexington County
April 11, 2019
Traffic signals along Highway 378, between the Town of Lexington and the City of West Columbia, will soon be updated to help improve emergency response times for patients requiring hospital care.
The $2 million project, which is being funded by Lexington Medical Center, is aimed to improve traffic signals along Highway 378 from Lott Court to Hummingbird Drive. The upgrade includes the installation of 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.
“The traffic signal improvements along Highway 378 are a testament to what happens when government and business work together for the betterment of the people,” Lexington County Council Chairman Scott Whetstone said. “This is a product of a great intergovernmental partnership, and we are grateful for all of the hard work that was put into this project.”
The upgraded traffic-light 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.
Currently, there are 12 ambulances outfitted with traffic-signal emitters. Lexington County EMS has budgeted for four additional ambulances to be outfitted with the device in the upcoming fiscal year; the cost of outfitting an ambulance with the device is approximately $4,200. It is the County’s goal to eventually outfit each of the County’s 28 ambulances with these traffic-signal emitters.
Additionally, Lexington County Fire Service has outfitted seven of its fire response vehicles that respond to emergencies along the Highway 378 corridor with the traffic-signal emitters. The City of West Columbia Fire Department will also have the capability of outfitting their fleet with these same emitters.
