CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The nerve center of the city's traffic light system -- the brain that controls all the traffic signals in Charleston -- sits in a neglected back office of City Hall.

It's visited only a couple of times a week, like last weekend when people from the Traffic Engineering Department adjusted the clock for daylight-saving time.

In a year or so, when the city installs a radio-controlled control system for its downtown traffic signals to replace the hard-wired system, the center will be obsolete.

The area was Traffic Engineering's home until the six-person department moved across town to Pennsylvania Avenue. Now, besides the computer controls, it's used mostly for storage.

"All the downtown signals come in here by copper wire, about 60 signals," said traffic engineer Allen Copley. "The only reason we're here is because the copper comes in here."

Traffic signals in other parts of the city are controlled by telephone or radio, Copley said. Signals along Kanawha Boulevard and MacCorkle Avenue, for example, send radio messages to a master antenna on the South Side Bridge, which beams them to another antenna atop City Hall.

"We could just as easily have an antenna at our new location across town, and we could lease phone lines there," he said. "The beauty of the new system, it's Internet-based. You can access it from anywhere with a computer."

So when the new wireless downtown system is installed, Copley plans to move the control center to his department's Pennsylvania Avenue offices.

City and state Division of Highways leaders have been planning a new downtown signal system for several years, Copley said. "The equipment, like any equipment, has a tendency to wear out. The last time it was done was in the mid-'90s."

City Council members on Monday authorized Mayor Danny Jones to sign an agreement with DOH. According to City Manager David Molgaard, DOH will hire a contractor to replace signals at 58 downtown intersections and install backlit street signs at the intersections.

At the same time, the city will replace signal light poles in the area, which stretches from Clendenin to Morris Street and from Kanawha Boulevard to Washington Street.

"When you look at downtown, we've done the streetscape," Molgaard said. "One of the last things to do is replace the poles. They're actually rusty."

The poles, which will cost an estimated $423,500 for more than 100, will be painted to match nearby fixtures. "So in areas where we have green streetlight poles they will be green, and in areas with bronze or brown poles they will be bronze or brown. I've been earmarking funds in the budget, knowing this day will come.

"The other thing we wanted to do was the street signs, using backlit signs. They'll be lit so at night they will be visible. I've seen them in other cities. Certainly it will be an enhancement for the downtown area. We don't intend to do this all over."

The new downtown traffic signals -- call them stoplights if you prefer -- will include a number of innovations, Copley said. For starters, the bulbs are LEDs, which are far more energy-efficient.

"The pedestrian heads will be the countdown type that count down the time left to cross the street.

"The push signals are audible to aid the blind; they emit a tone, a clicking signal. They even adjust the volume depending on the ambient noise level. They can have audible messages programmed in to tell the person what street they're crossing, for example."

All of the lights will have video cameras to detect vehicles, instead of the underground loop sensors used in some streets. "We'll do away with the loops, which get chewed up whenever we mill the pavement," Copley said.

Some drivers may not believe it, but Copley's office already has a pretty sophisticated program to sequence lights along city streets. One problem, he says, is there are too many variables.

"What people tend to forget is we can't tailor signals for each individual. We have to program for cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, emergency vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles ...."

The timing of lights on many streets is based on the speed limit, which drivers don't always obey. "What I see going down Virginia Street, people speed away from a light and then jam on their brakes at the next light. If they'd just go a little slower ..."

Pedestrian crossing signals will mess up even the best programs, especially when the signal button gets stuck, he said. "Ask anyone in the business: The hardest thing is to accommodate pedestrian signals.

"I see a lot of other things. People like to drop off and pick up passengers, weave in and out of traffic. That defeats [traffic signal] coordination," Copley said. "Then again, others say it works pretty well."

Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5102.