June 10, 2015
Ronnie Campbell opens the control monitor attached to a pole at the intersection and points to the “brains” that help diagnose problems such as green lights every direction or a bad push button.
Stories this photo appears in:
Alexandria: City Workers Brighten Alexandria
People at Work
The 2x3 foot gray bucket slowly rises 17 feet toward the traffic light at Prince Street and Alfred in Old Town. Alvin Jefferson, a signal tech for the City of Alexandria, has strapped on his safety helmet, snapped on his red safety harness and hooked it onto the bucket. He is retrofitting Alexandria traffic signals with LED lights as part of the city's program to have all 250 signals completed by the end of the year. Matt Melkerson, division chief of traffic operations, says LED lights are more energy efficient and will save the city a lot of money on maintenance costs. Instead of changing bulbs every year and a half, the new LED bulbs are supposed to last at least five years and maybe longer. This frees the workers up to do other things. "In addition, it reduces the time when our workers are up in the air and exposed to traffic hazards."
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