The days of out-of-whack traffic lights in the CSRA could be over soon

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – It’s not just you – since Hurricane Helene, local stoplights have been out-of-wack.

After the storm, city engineers told us the system that all the traffic lights communicated on was taken offline.

The good news is, that should be over shortly.

If you’ve sat for what feels like forever at intersections around town, it may have something to do with some of the traffic lights being off.

After Hurricane Helene, only 34 of 275 traffic signals were working.

Three months later, John Ussery, the assistant traffic director, says all signals are working as they were before the storm except for a couple along Washington Road and Riverwatch Parkway.

That’s because the communications network to those signals was damaged by uprooted trees and they are currently being fixed.

Ussery also says the traffic patterns and volumes haven’t returned to normal, so that is why some signals seem to be busier than they were before.

It’s something Nick Bates says he’s noticed while driving around.

“It is more of a problem now than it was before the storm,” said Bates. “Traffic will back up and it will just stay red forever, and when it does turn green, it’s green for like two seconds. It’s not unheard of to sit through a light for four or five cycles. It depends on the time of day. Rush hour? You can sit there for nearly 10 minutes.”

Ussery says they are monitoring traffic and adjusting the timing.

“The fact that we, along with the Georgia Department of Transportation, were able to accomplish this task in just three months is unprecedented,” said Ussery.

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