City officials on Tuesday enlisted a consultant for a project to install devices that ensure emergency vehicles get green lights when responding to calls.
Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety members approved a consulting contract between the city and American Structurepoint to hire the firm with the aim of ensuring compliance with Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and Federal Highway Administration regulations related to city engineering’s emergency vehicle preemption device installation project.
The purpose of the devices, using technology known as the Miovision Opticom Cloud System, is to ensure emergency vehicles have green lights during emergency calls, enhancing the safety of first responders and possibly saving lives.
The city is planning to install the devices on traffic signals at 62 different intersections, although seven already have some equipment installed already, City Engineer Andrew Beckort said. They work by communicating via transponder so the light will be green when an emergency vehicle approaches it.
Beckort said the city is starting with fire trucks and ambulances first, noting that police cars responding to calls usually go fast enough that they would be ahead of the signal giving them a green light anyway.
Currently, emergency vehicles have to count on drivers moving out of the way—especially at red lights— so the devices will take that potentially dangerous situation out of the equation.
The board in February approved a consulting contract Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc. (CMT) for engineering services related to the project, which is expected to go to bid in February of 2026, meaning all of the devices won’t be installed until later next year.
A few months later in September, the board of works in turn approved a joint use of maintenance agreement between the city and INDOT to allow for the installation of the devices at 36 INDOT-controlled signals, a required step of the process. The signals are located on State Road 46, State Road 58 and U.S. 31.
In Quincy, Massachusetts, just south of Boston, the Miovision system was able to reduce intersection crash rates by up to 70%. According to the Quincy Traffic Department, the Miovision system also provided a 25% improvement in response times.
The project is using part of nearly $2 million in funding awarded from INDOT through the federal government for emergency vehicle preemption and a new pedestrian hybrid beacon (HAWK Signal) at the intersection of 19th Street and Central Avenue.
Columbus received $1,950,750 for the two projects, funded through a 90/10 match, with the city contributing a total of $216,750.
