"WE HAVE FOUND THAT IT TAKES E BIT LONGER TO TURN INTO HIGHLAND SQUARE OFF THE BOULEVARD, BUT TRAFFIC SEEMS TO BE FLOWING BETTER ON THE BOULEVARD.   

HAVE YOU NOTICRD THE CHANGES IN SIGNAL LIGHT TIMING ON FOUR SEASONS BOULEVARS FROM DANA ROAD TO HOWARD GAP ROAD?

MAIN STREET'S SIGNAL LIGHTS  WERE RE-TIMED BACK IN THE SPRING    

TO KEEP U WITH THE CURRENT HEAVIER FLOW OF TRAFFIC   

If you are among those who travel on Four Seasons Boulevard and are frequently caught up in slow moving heavy traffic, there may be some relief on the way.

Chad Franklin is the traffic engineer for NC DOT in Division 14 and he tells WHKP News “It’s been several years since we’ve looked at the timing on the signal lights and we know that congestion has gotten worse...and that corridor is slated for a timing update on the signal lights.”

He says some “pre-runs have already been done on the Boulevard with a GPS timer “...that tells us how much time it takes to get from “point A to point B on the corridor...NC DOT people from our of Raleigh will come in and work on each timing location, that’s every signal light along the (Four Seasons Boulevard) corridor from Dana Road to Howard Gap Road.”

Basically, he said, they will adjust the timing of the signal lights to the new or current traffic volume along that corridor.

Franklin said every signal light at every intersection will be involved in the update from Dana Road to Howard Gap Road.

Franklin points out that you may have noticed a change in the flow of traffic in downtown Hendersonville...where a timing project update on the signal lights on Main Street was completed back in the spring of this year.

As for how often timing is looked at and adjusted on traffic signal lights, Franklin says that’s about every two to three years to keep up with changes in congestion and the flow of traffic. In fact, Franklin says NC DOT now has some new software that looks at the timing of signal lights in each corridor in a quarterly basis.

“As much growth as we’re seeing in the Hendersonville and Asheville area, we’re hoping that this new software tool will let us know more quickly when the signal lights on any particular corridor need to be re-timed, with some areas and their volume of traffic growing faster than others,” Franklin tells WHKP News.

There is no doubt...traffic has become increasingly heavier on the Boulevard, and this re-timing of the traffic signal lights should ease the burden of congestion.

By Larry Freeman and Tippy Creswell