On this particular morning, Clint Brooks is not a popular kind of guy.
The Highway Emergency Response Operator is used to being a HERO for motorists in distress and stranded by the side of the road, but he's earning more looks of ire and expressions of exasperation on Interstate 20.
It's 9 a.m. on the first day of Masters Week, and traffic control operators already have decided to shut down Exit 65, the Washington Road exit on I-20.
That makes Mr. Brooks and his co-worker, Ron Tumblin, fairly unpopular with motorists who want to get to Augusta National Golf Club and who want to get there now, despite the orange cones the two Georgia Department of Transportation workers are setting out, blocking the exit ramp.
By 9:50 a.m., eight people will have tried to drive through the cones.
It's Masters Week in Augusta, and traffic is gearing up.
Richmond County sheriff's deputies stand in the medians of Berckmans and Washington roads, hands waving like orchestra conductors. The transportation department's HERO units -- pumped-up, chartreuse trucks with drivers trained for any emergency from a flat tire to a chemical spill to an imminent birth -- are prowling I-20 and Bobby Jones Expressway.
As Mr. Brooks waits patiently in the bumper-to-bumper traffic on Washington Road, a Georgia State Patrol helicopter rises from nearby Westside High School on another aerial reconnaissance mission around the city.
``Other states have this kind of system, but nobody is doing mobile deployments like this. We really are on the cutting edge,'' said Ben Snedeker, spokesman for Navigator, the Department of Transportation's high-tech traffic monitoring system.
All the ground and air workers are tied into a central command post at Westside High, where a dozen people -- fueled by Krispy Kreme doughnuts and high-test coffee -- have started their morning far too early in an attempt to create order out of chaos. A half-dozen laptop computers, three desktop models, five telephones, numerous radios and scattered TV monitors are being pressed into service. The sound of a modem whistles through the high school auditorium.
``Yes, we have some video,'' cheers Richmond County Traffic Engineer James Huffstetler as slow-scan video from a fixed camera pans over Washington Road. ``Hey, that's heavy traffic.''
And he's off to another computer to tap in a preprogrammed code that will change traffic signals on the congested road. For good measure, he also overrides the signal pattern on 15th Street, where rerouted business traffic will be picking up during rush hour.
``Normally, we would have the traffic signals programmed in a progression -- one light turns green, and by the time you get to the next light, it turns green, and when you get to the next one, it turns green,'' Mr. Huffstetler said. ``In cases like this, with so much volume out there, we try to set them so they all go green at once, and they all go red at once. It's like you're opening a valve to let it all go, and then you close the valve and let the side streets go.''
By 10:30 a.m., another computer is being used to send preprogrammed messages to changeable signs, this time warning motorists that all the gates at Augusta National have been closed to incoming traffic.
``Find alternate parking,'' the signs warn.
The drive from I-20 to Berckmans Road is still a 42-minute trip, but traffic has slowed enough to allow the interstate exits to be reopened. Usually, the morning rush is winding down by this time, but it's taking longer than expected.
``Traffic continues to be heavy on Washington Road,'' types transportation department communications specialist Courtney Dewey, sending an e-mail advisory as radios hiss and crackle around her with reports from the road.
``The only place it's really bad is Washington Road, and I was surprised because even that wasn't bad compared to last year,'' said Chris Jones, who operates high-tech monitoring equipment in the helicopter. ``Of course, it is only Monday.''
Alisa DeMao covers transportation for The Augusta Chronicle. She can be reached at (706) 823-3223 or ademao@augustachronicle.com.
Traffic control out in force