The City of Chesapeake, VA has upgraded its Opticom™ emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) system from Global Traffic Technologies (GTT), LLC to help its emergency vehicles move through intersections quickly and safely. The expansion was facilitated in part by GTT’s regional dealer of Opticom, J.O. Herbert Company, Inc.
When an emergency vehicle needs to navigate an intersection en route to a call, the Opticom EVP system onboard the emergency vehicle sends a request to the intersection’s controller ahead of its arrival. If that request is granted, the traffic light turns green and the vehicle gets a clear path through the intersection.
While Chesapeake started with preemption in only one station in 1979, the Opticom Infrared (IR) solution is installed in 150 of its 187 intersections. The city upgraded all the older phase selectors utilized by Fire and EMS and included CMS as part of the project for diagnostic purposes to ensure the devices remained in working order.
Upgrading to Opticom developments
Chesapeake joins its neighbors Newport News and Suffolk as cities in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia that have recently expanded their Opticom deployments. In fact, using Opticom is so formalized in the southeastern corner of the state that it is written into the public standard in the Hampton Roads region for the purposes of compatibility and mutual aid.
“We decided 20 years ago through the Hampton Road Transportation Planning Organization that we were going to stick with Opticom,” said Kevin Eppley, a project engineer with the City of Chesapeake. “[Opticom] cuts down on that response time and it’s been excellent; we’ve had no problem.”
“For more than half a century, GTT has been a trusted ally for customers (like Chesapeake) across North America,” GTT CEO Nicole Rennalls said. “We have developed – and continue to work on – technological advancements that will help those cities evolve and expand their deployments for years to come.”