The following is an email from the Deputy City Manager, Dave Hansen, to the Bayfront Advisory Committee (BAC) explaining the LED Traffic signs on Shore Drive and the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) project.  You can also see the 2009 Power Point presentation given by City Staff to City Council regarding this project.  Click here to view the 3Mb file.  ITS Brief 021810

Members of the BAC,

 In November of 2009, DPW Jason Cosby briefed the City Council on the $22M Intelligent Transportation System project in which all but $1.5M was being funded by the Federal Highway Administration.  In this comprehensive briefing he covered the major phases of construction and their specific outcomes.  I have attached that brief and note that on chart #24 we identified the location of 6 sites where the Dynamic Message Boards were to be installed.  Two of those locations were clearly shown on Shore Drive. Following that briefing Mr. Cosby briefed the BAC on 18 February 2010.  I have attached that briefing and ask that you relook charts 21-26.  Additionally I have attached the minutes of that BAC so that you can see who was in attendance when we advised you what the plan was, why it was and what it was to be like.  As Mr. Arnhold made comment regarding City staff in his email below, I note that he was in attendance at the BAC brief on 2-18-10 and that no questions were posed to the staff following the DPW brief.  The lag time between the briefings and the start of construction was the product of contracting, funding, technology, public briefings and increasing the requirement from six to eight locations. Hopefully the board recalls this information briefing in February 2010 and we can proceed to respond to the myriad of questions which are being asked.  To assist you I provide the following description of the ITS project and specific information on the DMS.

 The signs located on Shore Drive are part of The Virginia Beach Dynamic Message Signs and System Detector Project which consists of the installation of 11 motorists advisory Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) at eight locations, overhead sign support structures, equipment cabinets, and communication equipment. The DMS’s have three line displays. This important project was funded by Federal Funds associated with Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality and is intended to provide real time information to the motoring public to keep traffic flowing.  The locations have been strategically selected and approved by City Council in order to maximize the dissemination of essential information to motorists. The DMS’s will be installed at eight locations within the City.

 The DMS’s will be installed at the following locations:

1. Princess Anne Rd and Elson Green Ave, southbound

2. General Booth Blvd at the KOA Campground, northbound

3. Shore Dr and First Landing State Park, westbound

4. Shore Dr and Bayville Rd, back to back DMS’s

5. Northampton Blvd and Bayside Rd, eastbound

6. Northampton Blvd and Shell Rd, westbound

7. Independence Blvd and Wakefield Dr, back to back DMS’s

8. Shore Dr near 83rd St, back to back DMS’s

What follows is a brief summary of the why, what, how, and where:

 1. Purpose:

               -The primary purpose of the signs is to convey traffic condition information to the roadway motorists

                – Signs are especially useful during hurricane evacuation

– Signs can be used to display public safety campaign information (i.e. Amber Alerts, Click-it-or Ticket)

 2. Lighted:

                – signs will not be lighted (no illumination lamps to shine on them); they are LED driven-internally illuminated

                – the sign will be dark unless there is a message to display

 3. Size: 6 feet high by 12 feet long; mounted 17 feet above the ground.  (by comparison our portable signs are 6’ by 10’)

 4. Location: The location on Shore Drive was specifically selected because of the following properties: -38,000 motorists pass this site every day

 -West bound traffic can be alerted to conditions at Northampton Blvd, Chesapeake bay-Bridge Tunnel, and I-264

 -East bound traffic can be alerted to downstream conditions on Shore Drive, Fort Story, Great Neck Road

 The signs are a part of our ITS (intelligent Transportation System) project with the goal being able to disseminate real-time traffic information expeditiously to the motoring public. They can also be used to broadcast Amber Alerts in support of Public Safety.

 Should you require additional information I am happy to respond to your RFIs. Regards, Dave

Dave Hansen

Deputy City Manager

City of Virginia Beach

(757)385-4242

NO WAY TO RAISE EIGHT ROAD SIGNS – THE ISSUE Virginia Beach erects several LED traffic signs. WHERE WE STAND Given the city’s ban on electronic signs, greater public involvement was required.

             IN JUNE 2010, Virginia Beach’s City Council banned electronic signs in the city, calling them garish, distracting to drivers and dangerous. Rather than impose stringent restrictions on signs in front of churches and businesses, the council said the bright signs, if not already in place, would not be allowed at all.

That vote was in character with the city, which banned new billboards a quarter-century ago and encouraged landscaping and beautification projects in medians and other public spaces.

              City government itself is exempt from the electronic sign ordinance, however. Light-emitting, attention-grabbing signs beckon passersby to Virginia Beach’s convention center and its performing arts center. Outside public schools, libraries and community centers, the signs are colorful reminders of upcoming events.

               Now, according to reporting by The Pilot’s Kathy Adams, the city is erecting eight LED signs to warn drivers about traffic problems on Shore Drive, Princess Anne Road, and Independence, General Booth and Northampton boulevards. Not only are city officials defying the spirit of the ordinance, but they failed to talk to neighborhood groups about the signs’ locations, size and hours of use.

               Traffic engineers determined   the locations. The federal government paid for the $60,500 signs with “congestion-mitigation” money.

              So now, instead of the city partnering with private companies that own the 30 billboards in Virginia Beach to allow limited electronic messages and city use for public safety issues — as some on the City Council had proposed in 2010 — the city has eight more signs towering over roadways.

              Monday-morning quarterbacking does no good unless it serves as a lesson for the future. In the case of LED signs, the city failed a basic tenet of good government: It didn’t involve affected communities in the planning.

              Virginia Beach should have solicited suggestions for designs that don’t run afoul of the aesthetics of the surroundings. It should have asked the public for ideas for traffic alert locations that would actually help drivers with alternative routes.

              And because the city violated rules that bind the rest of us, it should have made the case publicly for why its signs are a safety feature, not a hazard.