Power surges blow out traffic lights at school zone

MAKING IT WORK— Steve Hanson with the Department of Transportation in Talkeetna reprograms the computer responsible to regulate the flashing school zone lights at the Talkeetna Elementary School, on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. Photo by Diana Haecker

Flashing light signals alerting traffic to the Talkeetna Elementary School zone remained dark for the better part of this and last week. The problem has occurred numerous times this winter. A computer programmed to regulate  the flashing lights, starts malfunctioning when electrical power fluctuations happen. On Tuesday afternoon, Steve Hanson with the Department of Transportation in Talkeetna went about fixing and reprogramming the computer. Hanson said that the flashing lights in front of Talkeetna Elementary School do have a reoccurring malfunction and that the DOT’s electrician had to drive up from Palmer to reset the computer at least half a dozen times this winter. Hanson said the electrician walked him through the process to reprogram the computer. Steve Hanson said the origin of the failure has not been pinpointed yet. The department’s electrician suspects that power surges triggered by the liftstation across the road could be also responsible for the computer glitches.