If voters approve the Northwest Georgia T-SPLOST referendum July 31, Paulding County will soon have a new traffic control center.

With the funds raised from the referendum, transportation officials will have a central station from which they will be able to monitor traffic flow in Paulding County.

Officials also will install a fiber-optic network on Dallas-Acworth Highway, East Paulding Drive, Ga. Hwy. 120 and Ga. Hwy. 6, the corridors with the most traffic, according to George Jones, traffic operations division manager.

“This arrangement will provide communications along the highest volume corridors within the county and a degree of redundancy in case of a loss of communications at points along the fiber network,” Jones said.

The project will cost about $2.8 million and will be totally funded by the 1 percent sales tax.

The Paulding Traffic Control Center will be located at the Traffic Operations building at 329 Industrial Blvd. North, according to Jones.

“The TCC [Traffic Control Center] will house the electronics required to bring back data and live images from traffic signal locations [or] signalized corridors within the county,” Jones said. “From this location, we will have the ability to monitor and manage traffic, providing faster reaction times than is currently possible and implementing changes, if necessary, to improve traffic flow.”

An adaptive signal plan, used to track traffic flow, recently was implemented at Cedarcrest Road and Hwy. 92.

Jones said peak hours for traffic at the Cedarcrest and 92 intersection were 7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

These adaptive signals give officials the information needed to adjust traffic lights at certain times of the day to reduce traffic backups.

Director of Transportation Scott Greene said the department may implement more of these adaptive signal plans in the fall if they are pleased with the results of the current signal plan at the Cedarcrest intersection.

“All of the data and images are used in an effort to provide the most efficient travel, reducing congestion and improving safety on the roadway system for citizens using the county road system,” Jones said.