Streator downtown traffic lights now in sync

Motorists traveling through downtown Streator may have noticed a return of flow Thursday between traffic lights.

Mayor Tara Bedei said Traffic Control Corp. installed the new controllers and timed the lights, completing work that the City Council began in May.

In May, the council appropriated about $90,000 in motor fuel tax funds for the new hardware to keep the lights synced for smoother traffic flow. Eleven intersections would have new controllers, battery backups and emergency preemption devices, Bedei said.

“The existing controllers [installed between 1993 and 2003] were no longer communicating with each other, causing the stoplights to go out of sync,” she said.

In October, the parts arrived, the mayor said.

Since then, the programming from the old controllers was downloaded and installed onto the new controllers. The battery backups also were installed into the control cabinets.

“The only part of the project left is to install the emergency preemption equipment,” Bedei said. “Look for that to happen this spring.”