“It will be used primarily for traffic congestion,” said Hamilton Director of Engineering Rich Engle.
The board will display critical information to the traveling public about upcoming road or lane closures, special event information, and travel times for large Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill events. That’s the mega-sports complex on B Street that sometimes will host events that can bring tens of thousands of visitors to the city.
Engle said the board won’t give any major directions for Spooky Nook, but will give people an idea of how long it would take to drive up Martin Luther King Boulevard or across the river to North B Street “so we can give them their options as to how fast it would take them or how much time it would take them to get to either of those locations.”
The project includes the installation of fiber optic communications, which will connect the electronic messaging board to Hamilton’s Centracs traffic system.
“We’ll also use it for other events, and I’m hopeful it’s complete by the beginning of October so we can use it to alert motorists for the upcoming closure for Operation Pumpkin,” he said.
While the installation is expected to be completed by December, Engle said they hope to have the electronic messaging board operational by Oct. 12. Operation Pumpkin, Hamilton’s annual 3-day festival that celebrates fall and Halloween, runs from Oct. 13 to 15 on High Street and several off-streets along the city’s downtown corridor.
Bansal Construction was awarded the $426,000-plus contract to install the overhead pedestal-style support messaging board for westbound High Street traffic approaching downtown. City administrators are currently working on developing a use policy for the DMS electronic messaging board.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
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