15 days ago
ROCKVILLE, Md. (WUSA) -- Montgomery County officials say they expect a normal morning rush hour after nearly two days of chaos and gridlock due to a malfunctioning computer.
Just after 6 p.m. Thursday, officials announced a "breakthrough" in efforts to repair the system that synchronizes nearly 800 traffic lights countywide.
"Engineers have isolated the problem and have been successful in reestablishing the connection between the computer and the traffic signals, with the result that most of the intersection signals are now responding to our commands," said County Executive Ike Leggett in a prepared statement. "The system is fixed, but we continue to work on individual signals that are not consistently responding. We will continue to monitor it throughout the evening and overnight but we anticipate that tomorrow morning's rush hour will be much smoother. "
The system broke down at 3 a.m. Wednesday, resulting in long lines of traffic at critical choke points and delays of over an hour for some commuters during rush hours.
A new $35 million dollar system is due to be phased in over the next 6 years.
Written by Scott Broom
9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
