An agreement reached with Griffith and six other municipalities with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission will bring safer roadways for emergency vehicles.
More Top Picks Best Portable Dishwashers
The Griffith Town Council on Tuesday approved 4-0, with Councilman Jim Marker absent, to enter into an agreement with six other municipalities to install emergency vehicle preemption lights at certain intersections. The system allows first responders to control when the light turns turn green so that they can safely navigate through traffic, Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, said.
Ryfa described the system as the lights attached to traffic lights that blink white light when an emergency vehicle passes through. Munster, for example, has EVP lights at intersections on Calumet Avenue near Community Hospital; there will be EVP lights at 157 intersections in Merrillville, Schererville, Hobart, St. John, Dyer, Crown Point and now Griffith as well.
NIRPC approved the federal funding for the project in February 2016, and the Town of Merrillville agreed to serve as its lead agent, according to the agreement. Its cost is estimated at $3.1 million, of which $2.8 million will be covered by the federal grant and the municipalities will cover the remaining $311,450.
In other safety business, the council discussed accepting a license agreement for proprietary software used by CN Railroad. Councilman Tony Hobson, R-5th, said the software provides a way for emergency dispatchers to know where railroad crossings on the former EJ&E Railroad are clear or if the gates were coming down.
“Our goal in developing the (Active Crossing System) was to provide a way for local emergency service dispatchers to route emergency responders to sites of incidents, avoiding EJ&E crossings that were blocked, thereby minimizing responder delays,” Jim Kvedaras, CN Railroad’s U.S. Government Affairs Director, wrote in an email to the council.