Your commute through Lexington is faster, and the best is yet to come

Rick Peterson says his 17-mile daily commute from Lexington to the University of South Carolina is a few minutes faster, and town officials say he can thank their new traffic light technology.

“You can count on slow going, but parts of it now move very quickly, very smoothly,” the USC journalism instructor said of the trip. It usually takes about 50 minutes; it used to be about five minutes longer.

Quicker commutes were promised as part of the town’s digital network that oversees traffic on major roads in and around the steadily growing community. The system uses cameras and computers to detect heavy traffic on main thoroughfares, then adjusts traffic lights to reduce backups.

Signals in 19 intersections have reduced the typical rush-hour trip through Lexington’s downtown area – where U.S. 1, U.S. 378 and S.C. 6 intersect – from 11 minutes to 9 1/2, officials said. About 81,000 vehicles travel through Lexington on those roads daily, according to state traffic counts.

Adding more signals to the network will soon streamline the trip further, officials said. Sixteen more signals – mostly on a busy 5-mile stretch of U.S. 378 from downtown to near I-20 – will be put into use as soon as February. “The more we add to it, the more productive it becomes,” Mayor Steve MacDougall said.

Those results already are sparking interest in expanding a $5.3 million network that supporters promote as the future of alleviating congestion across central Lexington County.

Besides the 16 additional signals already planned, town officials are looking at adding five more digital signals where I-20 meets U.S. 1 and S.C. 6.

Lexington Medical Center is interested in extending the town-operated network to the stretch of U.S. 378 around the hospital, a 3-mile reach with 10 signals that would end a few blocks east of I-26. “We are exploring the possibility, looking at whether doing that would be favorable,” hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said.

About 26,000 vehicles pass the hospital daily, with the total increasing to nearly 40,000 a few blocks west, state traffic counts indicate.

As with other signals, state transportation officials must approve the idea because they oversee the road.

Adding more of the signals around Lexington will pay off by reducing congestion as traffic approaches the town of 21,000 residents, MacDougall said.

Because the town is the hub of a heavily populated area, its traffic problems are similar to those of a community with 130,000 people, officials say. Mile-long backups on main roads are common during rush hour.

Lexington is using the technology as a faster, cheaper way to reduce traffic jams instead of increasingly expensive road improvements that might be outdated as soon as they are done.

The network of signals is receiving raves even though it is incomplete.

“It’s working to a T,” said Otis Rawl, president of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce. “Those lights recognize when traffic is denser, keeping them green longer.”