Project Profile

Cobb County, Georgia

Adaptive Traffic Control System – SCATS

The Cobb County DOT required an adaptive system solution that could perform both on major arterial corridors and in densely developed retail/commercial/office/entertainment areas.  SCATS is installed on more than 150 intersections in the Cumberland community improvement district and in the Town Center community improvement district.  Both are heavily congested areas that include high volume intersecting roadways, malls, retail centers, sports and entertainment facilities, and high density office space.  In addition, several freeways cross the corridors, creating both normal congestion and unpredictable conditions.  The Vinings area in the Cumberland CID also is affected by a busy at-grade railroad crossing where there are typically 30-50 train crossings a day.  Some train crossings can take up to 8 minutes.  Through the variation routine and action item features of SCATS, special operations were installed in this area to relieve the congestion due to trains.  The SCATS system monitors how long each train is, and if the crossing closure is more than 90 seconds long, the system will apply a 120 second dwell to the area when the crossing reopens.  This dwell clears the queued traffic along the corridor so that the signals can return to normal adaptive operation.