BATON ROUGE — Traffic signals in Baton Rouge are synchronized for an easier commute, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced from the EBR Advanced Traffic Management Center on Tuesday. 

A room full of analysts are responsible for monitoring ten screens, showing traffic at critical intersections at all times. Employees hope the new system can make the parish more responsive to routine traffic hiccups and allow for more significant shifts during emergencies, events, and planned interstate construction closures. Traffic engineers have real-time data and can adjust signals constantly according to real-time traffic signals and flow. 

In March, Broome announced that every signal would be managed at the center to make these adjustments as needed. Workers tested the signal changes four times last week with planned closures and were able to adjust the timing of their signals to keep traffic moving efficiently.

"We have delivered a signal system that has made Baton Rouge one of the most connected cities in the U.S.," Broome said. 

Chief Traffic Engineer Cyndi Pennington said this kind of management can mean the difference between hours and minutes in traffic.

"If they called us and said, 'Hey, we need to change the signals on Airline Highway,'" Pennington said. "We did in about 10 minutes."

The adjustment of signals will follow different plans based on their area. With football season right around the corner, plans are already in place.

"Some of them have a specialized plan ... there's even a few that has Sunday when church lets out - we give them a little more time," Pennington said.

Mayor Broome and the head of traffic encourage anyone who believes signals are not working properly to notify the City-Parish on their website.