Browsing Archive: February, 2017

Battery Backup Systems for Traffic Signals

Posted by Steve Fitzsimons on Tuesday, February 28, 2017, In : For Traffic Signal Designers 
Battery backup systems (BBS) are equivalent to a UPS that keeps traffic signals running for two or more hours after a power failure.   The photo shows a Type 332 controller cabinet (typical installation on a Caltrans highway) and the somewhat smaller cabinet on the right is the BBS.  BBS started seeing interest in California about 2001 when the state had an unusually high number of brownouts.   BBS started getting deployed in greater numbers in about 2004 after a CPUC study documented their b...
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Street light wire theft: update

Posted by Steve Fitzsimons on Friday, February 17, 2017, In : For Streetlight designers 

Street light wire theft is a big and expensive problem for public agencies.  A world wide shortage of copper led to a dramatic increase in the salvage value of copper wire, starting in about 2006.  Coupled with the economic downturn in the US, a very unorganized but persistent wave of wire theft began.  With the slow-down of the building boom in China in about 2014-15, the price has since dropped off substantially but is still higher than historical averages.  Here is a snap shot of the curre...


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Rising Sea Levels

Posted by Steve Fitzsimons on Monday, February 13, 2017, In : For the General Public 
Rising sea levels make many of our transportation facilities vulnerable.   In the SF Bay Area, parts of US-101 near SFO, Route 237, and I-880 are close enough to sea level to be of concern.  The Port of Oakland is an international port, crucial to the economic vitality of a fairly large swath of the country, is also vulnerable.  Now with grant funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has launched a creative thinking/design competition to help our inf...
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About Us


Steve Fitzsimons If you would like to ask a question about driving rules, traffic signals or street lights, send your questions to: SFitzsimons@W-Trans.com or call 650-314-8313. Steve Fitzsimons is a professional Civil Engineer and Traffic Engineer in California. He is a principal at W-Trans. Find out more about W-Trans at www.w-trans.com **** If you need a traffic signal design or review, W-Trans is available for hire. If you are an electrical contractor, W-Trans is available for hire to prepare timing plans or traffic control plans.

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