A beacon in the night

James Clements
Published: June 8, 2008

Usually when I see a new traffic signal going up on an already crowded road, my first reaction is to groan.

If someone else is in the car, or maybe even if I’m alone, I’ll grumble something like “Not another one! How will traffic ever get through here now?”

Well, that all changed last week.

I don’t know if Wednesday’s storm was more harrowing for those who were already in Culpeper, or for those of us trying to get home, but in both cases it was pretty frightening.

My wife called from the cell phone to tell me the power was out, the house was shaking from hail and thunder and that she and my son were camped out in the hall closet.

Meanwhile, 30 miles north of town, I was driving on Route 28 when I pulled over at gas station because I was starting to feel like I was in a real-life “Whack-a-Mole” game and lightning was the mallet. (Just when I thought I had it bad, I met a couple who were also trying to get to Culpeper and waiting out the storm. The difference was they were traveling by motorcycle!)

After composing myself, I made the rest of the cautious drive home trying my best to avoid standing water and having to drive through quite a bit of it as I came in through the first Culpeper exit on U.S.29 (some of you may have seen that “puddle”).

I had come in that way because I was hoping some restaurant north of town would have power and could provide my dinner. Instead, all I saw was darkness.

No lights at Target, Chili’s, or even that bulwark Wal-Mart. I passed Five Guys before I’d known it — though it hardly mattered.

But as I continued to travel down Brandy Road/ James Madison Highway, scared to death at every non-functioning traffic signal that I was going to be killed from behind by the cars refusing to treat the darkened lights as four-way stops, I saw a beacon in the night.

As I approached the Burger King, and the new traffic signal in town that only too recently I’d grumbled about, I saw that it was actually lit up.

I won’t lie, before I thought about how this would improve my chances of making it safely through the intersection, I thought this might mean I could get a Whopper.

Unfortunately, it was only the light that was working.

The rest of the trip through town was a nerve-wracking bounce from intersection to intersection. But it was somehow a little easier because that one lit traffic light had broken the tension. I couldn’t wrap my mind around why a light, miles from a hospital, police station, or fire department would be working.

Later in the week, it was still on my mind, so I asked Mark Bly, town director of Light and Power, about the signal. He informed me that because that signal was new, it was equipped with an “uninterrupted power supply (UPS),” system.

“Any new lights that we install are going to be specified to have (UPS),” Bly said. “Our long range plan, ultimately, in 5-10 years that’s what all the intersections will have.”

Before you get your hopes, or your hairs, up over this, Bly told me that the town has not actively looked at or budgeted for such a system, just that it’s in the long-range plan.

He also informed me that these UPS systems work better with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs in the signals which use less of the battery power. In that regard, the town is making great progress. “Eighty percent of our signals have been converted to LED bulbs,” Bly said.

So what does the future hold? According to Bly, new lights going up this year on U.S. 522 (at Yowell Elementary School) and at the intersection of Madison Road and Golf Drive will have both LED and UPS systems.

I applaud the town for taking these steps that will not only save money in energy and maintenance costs (for the LED lights), but will also come in quite handy the next time a storm hits.

And from now on, I promise to smile when I see a new signal light going up in town.

James Clements is a Culpeper resident and
independent columnist who appears each Monday. E-mail