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MTC Students & Instructors Tour Valdosta's Traffic Management System

 

Thirty-five MTC Computer Information Systems, Electronics Technology and Drafting Technology students and instructors toured the City of Valdosta Traffic Management Center on January 16.  City of Moultrie assistant city manager Lance Arnett joined the group for the tour.

Below, three MTC Computer Information Systems students from the college’s Veterans Parkway campus in Moultrie share their perspectives and views of the technology they experienced.

Tracy L. Harden:   On Tuesday January 16, 2007 Our CIS Department went on a field trip to the Valdosta TMC.  We were greeted by the city engineer, and staff.  They were very helpful and informative in giving information to students, and the facility.  The daily business of controlling the flow of traffic has a new meaning to me now.  I never imagined that it was such a highly technical task, watching the flow of traffic.  And the amount of knowledge needed to do the job.  As well as continued education for the future of Traffic control.  I was most impressed by the crossover of skills from the different technicians that we met.  And they truly had a passion for there jobs, and the safety of the community.  And they were very proud of the accomplishments that they as a team had made.
         I liked the network of servers and the way they had everything set up was fascinating, and the relative low cost for the equipment certainly was not what I expected it to be.  They are very innovative and looking for the latest technology to help run the center.


Misty Wilson:   I really enjoyed our trip to TMC in Valdosta.  It was interesting to see just how far technology is advancing.  Every since I was in the 5th grade I knew that computers was where I wanted to be.  I have always wanted to be able to draw, and seeing the sign room showed me that computers can help me to manipulate a program to design different things.  Also it showed me that computers can go in many different directions.  Not only did a computer draw the picture but it also cut the material used to make the sign.  I also liked the concept of the control used in the monitor room.  We were able to zoom in on a car tag on the front of a truck that said, “I Love Wal-mart, Earl!”


Deborah Joyner:  Our Moultrie Technical College Students both from our local Moultrie campus and also from the Tifton campus attended a seminar in Valdosta at the City Utilities where students from Computer Information Science, Drafting and Electronics departments were in attendance.  We learned about the opportunities available with the City of Valdosta for graduates with good reading and math skill backgrounds. During the tour the students were shown new systems that were being implemented with traffic lights to replace the old light with the new LED lights which are which are said to last up to 10 years and save energy.  The students were also shown how custom signs were made with a sign made for the occasion for MTC. The whole process was amazing; watching the software program assemble the sign and fabricate the actual product.