Answering the Call
Public Works team mobilizes overnight to repair broken traffic signal.
Orange County's Public Works Department responds to a variety of concerns across the County on a daily basis. Most of this work is done during daylight hours, but not all emergencies follow a schedule. Recently, a dedicated Public Works team showed they are ready to respond at any time, day or night.
The incident that sparked this response occurred late one night in January while most County residents were asleep. A dump truck became entangled with and pulled down a traffic signal on John Young Parkway at I-4, which is in the City of Orlando's jurisdiction.
An Orange County Public Works’ Construction Engineering and Inspection contractor, who was in the vicinity repaving a section of John Young Parkway between 33rd Street immediately south of I-4, called Dan Marlette from Roads and Drainage. Marlette answered the call, setting the department’s response into motion.
He instructed the contractor to report the incident to 311, then reached out to Jim Gillen with Orange County Risk Management and Roger Smith with Public Works’ Traffic Engineering division to devise a plan to replace the signal.
Smith contacted Orange County’s traffic signal contractors, and a crew responded to the scene by 5 a.m. Traffic on John Young Parkway was impacted by the signal replacement, but crews were able to avoid a total closure of the southbound lanes.
By 10 a.m. the signal was fully operational, and traffic was back up to speed.
“The challenge was the jurisdictional border of various agencies for this particular traffic signal,” said Smith. “However, in the interest of public safety, we helped coordinate the traffic-related components at the site for the Public Works team and local drivers.”
The dedication exhibited by Marlette, Smith and Gillen is a great example of Orange County employee responsiveness to incidents and commitment to serving their community.