By Brad Segall

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. (CBS) — Starting tomorrow afternoon at 3pm, drivers who enter the Blue Route from four ramps in Montgomery County will see new ramp meters designed to control the flow of traffic on the Chemical Road-Ridge Pike entrance ramps to I-476 in Plymouth Township.

They are basically traffic signals minus the amber caution light, and stagger the number of cars that can enter the highway at one time.

“The ramp meter is treated just like a traffic signal, so motorists need to be reminded that disregarding a ramp meter is a punishable offense and it carries the same penalties as running a red light,” says Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Gene Blaum.

These are the first ramp meters in Montgomery County. Others have been operating at five interchanges in Delaware County.

Blaum says they waited to turn on these meters until the majority of the $70-million Blue Route reconstruction project was wrapped up in Montgomery County.  That’s been going on for the last 2½ years.

The ramp meters will be activated during morning and afternoon rush hours.  Blaum says the meters can also be turned on during emergencies on the highway.