Deployment of Wireless in the Transportation Center
Mr. Terry Galvin, Redevelopment Operations Manager, reviewed the status of usage and ownership of the Transportation Center in view of the Working Group's interest in placing wireless infrastructure in the Transportation Center. The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency owns the Transportation Center including the train station, the parking lots, and the Old Spaghetti Factory building until 2014. The Fullerton Railway Plaza Association is planning to develop a train museum on a portion of the property.
Metrolink trains currently stop at the Center 28 times per day and Amtrak trains 24 times per day. In 2002 and 2003 people made approximately 537,000 and 590,000 commutes, respectively, on Metrolink. Amtrak experienced about 245,000 and 260,000 commutes in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Most people rapidly transit through the Center and do not linger unless they miss a train or the train is late.
Because the Transportation Center is owned by the Redevelopment Agency, permission to install wireless infrastructure would not be a problem.
Traffic Signal Infrastructure
Art Grimes and Shalap Sadam, civil engineering and transportation consultants, described the nature of the traffic signal infrastructure in the City. Helen Hall invited them to make a presentation because the Working Group had heard that the City was planning to run fiber optic cable to its traffic signals in order to significantly reduce operating costs. Many cities in the United States, Fontana, CA, is one, that have implemented similar projects have taken advantage of them to add fibers that were used to connect government facilities, schools and medical centers that have a need for broadband. Traffic signals linked by fiber can also be used as access points for wireless infrastructure.
The traffic signal system in Fullerton is controlled from a central server in City Hall that is connected to the signals by copper telephone wires. The City will be upgrading electronics in the traffic signal cabinets and there will be some communication enhancement with copper wires. Copper is currently adequate to handle the data rates required to control the traffic signals so there is no plan to upgrade the system to fiber. The cost to operate the system is $30-40/signal/month which is about $60,000 per year. Conduit has been laid in some streets such as Brea Boulevard for the system. A map of the system was given to Helen Hall.
The Working Group concluded that planned upgrades to the system did not offer an opportunity to add fiber optic infrastructure that could be linked to schools, government facilities and medical centers.
Other
The Working Group decided to combine two sub-groups that had been working on wireless issues into one group and expand the area being contemplated for wireless infrastructure to the whole downtown. This action team needs to remain cognizant of meeting constraints imposed by the Brown Act.
