Many residents in the City of Gainesville and throughout Alachua County complain that area traffic lights aren't synchronized, creating unnecessary traffic tie-ups and delays.

But now city officials are doing something to correct the problem.

Monday afternoon, Gainesville's City Commission approved the purchase of a 1.3-million-dollar software system that will revamp all of the traffic lights in the city and around the county.

Phase One will include 83 intersections, including 44 along Newberry Road.

City traffic engineers say the new software will reduce delays by 10 to 15 percent, and won't slow down traffic during installation.

"The old technology is a DOS-based system that doesn't communicate with the other signals. The new system will be a Windows-based system that communicates over fiber optics, and will be able to communicate with an entire corridor, like the Newberry Road Corridor, all at once," said Phillip Mann, the Supervising Engineer for the City of Gainesville's Traffic Operations Department.

Many residents say the upgrade is long overdue.

"For a city of comparable size, it takes about three times as long to get across town as it could in another city. I don't find any synchronization at all," said Gainesville Resident Andy Anderson.

City traffic engineers will begin a study of the project in August, and will begin actual installation in November.

Phase One is expected to be complete one year later.

By David Hamilton, WCJB TV20 News