FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2017
 
Contact: Jessica Beemer (832) 393-3008
 
 
Traffic Signal Issues in Kingwood
 
Houston, TX - Houston City Council Member Dave Martin would like to thank the Kingwood residents who assisted in reporting several traffic signal issues affecting the Kingwood Area yesterday using the 3-1-1 system. Our office understands and takes very seriously any traffic signal outages as they immediately impact quality of life and create a possibility for safety hazards. Thank you to the Houston Police Department's Kingwood Substation for responding to our office's request for assistance directing traffic during this outage.
 
When Public Works and Engineering (PWE) staff investigated the Forest Garden and Kingwood Drive intersection they found that the electrical cabinet controlling the traffic signal at Forest Garden and Kingwood Drive had previously been struck by lightening causing various electrical failures to manifest over the last week. Those damaged components in the Forest Garden cabinet have since been replaced. A maintenance manager and electrician investigated the cabinet this morning to make sure their repairs are holding up.
 
Additionally, our office received reports of signals being out at Woodland Hills, Green Oak, and Kingwood High School at varying times yesterday afternoon. PWE discovered that the Kingwood Area signal issues were the result of a power surge that occurred during the late morning. This power surge caused several signals on Kingwood Drive and Northpark Drive to flash red intermittently. PWE has placed filters  in the electrical cabinets to reduce the affects of power surges throughout the Kingwood Area but outages can still occur which is why it is important to report any signal outages and other problems to 3-1-1 by calling (713) 837-0311.
 
Over the next couple of weeks each electrical cabinet on Kingwood Drive and Northpark Drive will be placed in a "flash mode" by PWE staff for a brief period of time to upgrade the equipment. These "flash modes" will be conducted during off peak traffic times.

For more information, please contact Council Member Martin's office by calling (832) 393-3008 or via email at districte@houstontx.gov
 
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