SES America has finished the manufacturing and installation of full-colour LED Dynamic Trailblazer Signs for the Michigan Department of Transportation, and is set to soon begin manufacturing of additional signs for the next phase of this on-going work.
The signs are part of integrated corridor management along I-75 designed by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Each sign is part of SESA’s Messenger 5000 embedded DMS series, a line of embedded DMS designed to display travel time, toll rate, lane status, or traffic control information. As part of this project, the embedded DMS is intended to divert and manage the influx of traffic, and reduce traffic queues and congestion on freeways for both Macomber and Oakland counties.
The signs feature a full-colour display capable of showing a variety of arrows that re-direct traffic as necessary onto surface roads and alternate routes. The signs are controlled by SESA’s state-of-the-art NTCIP-compliant SCU6 controller housed in field cabinets near each site. Each sign is placed at strategic locations and display the indicative arrow only when needed.
This combination of static sign and embedded dynamic display is very cost-effective, advantageously replacing an entire full-colour / full-matrix DMS. Cutting-edge, energy-efficient technology was utilised to minimise the quantity and size of command, control, and power components, which allowed the components to be installed in a small NEMA 4X cabinet attached to each sign structure for the initial deployment.
On the subsequent deployment, this design was further refined, allowing all components to be installed within the sign itself, while maintaining the slim sign housing design required for the project. Each sign housing has a depth of less than 4in, which allows for easy flush-mounted installation to the static sign panels that hold each Dynamic Trailblazer Sign.
Each sign was manufactured in the US at SESA’s main production facility in Warwick, RI. Installation of the signs was done by J. Ranck Electric, based out of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Manufacturing will continue into early summer, with deployment of the remaining signs tentatively set for later this year.