ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – With the summer baseball and softball tournament season in full swing, officials in Orange Beach are hoping a long-anticipated traffic signal will be operating before the July 4 holiday weekend.

The city has been working two years or more to get essentially useless signals at the east and west entrances to The Wharf on Canal Road moved to the entrance to the Orange Beach Sportsplex to ease traffic woes during tournaments.

A series of tournaments ran by the United States Specialty Sports Association is ongoing and will continue through late July with games being played in Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Foley and Robertsdale. More than 750 teams will be in Baldwin County during that stretch.

“The mayor worked directly with Director (John) Cooper to secure the approval to have that signal installed there,” Community Development Director Kit Alexander said. “That was something that was worked out between the two of them and we greatly appreciate Director Cooper supporting us and having that installed there because have so many events there at the Sportsplex now.

“During those big events it can really problematic. Having that signal there will really facilitate traffic during those big events.”

Because the car count during the offseason didn’t necessarily rise to levels warranting a light there, it took the city extra time to convince the state of the need.

“Daniel Driskell, the traffic engineer in Mobile, he asked us specifically for a schedule of events and he responded by having the counts and observations during those times,” Alexander said. “So he did show sensitivity the specific peak minutes that warranted it in our mind.

“We’ve been asking for it for a long time. We greatly appreciate Director Cooper and the Mobile Department of Transportation and Vince Calmetti for working with us to get it installed.”

The hope for a light at the intersection took off in when talk of moving the lights from The Wharf intersections began in August of 2011. Orange Beach bore the cost of removal and reinstallation of the signal with an $80,000 appropriation from the general fund.

Tournaments and other sporting events have become a huge part of Pleasure Island and Baldwin County’s economy.

In 2012 Sports Commission of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism helped promote 88 sporting events from college to little league level pumping $22.4 million into the local economy. So far this year the sports commission has played host to 29 events, resulting in $4 million in direct visitor spending, the bureau reported.

For the whole year of 2012, the commission reported the area played host to 88 events accounting for 64,076 room nights. In 2012 direct visitor spending was up 37 percent from $16.3 million in 2011 and up nearly 300 percent from the $7.6 million in 2009, the commission reported.

During the first part of the week there were some traffic delays for lane closures required for the work, but officials say the crews will begin working at night as soon as possible.

“Its a necessary evil in order to get that signal up and running before our busy weekend,” Alexander said. “Right now I think we’re on schedule to have it up and running by July 4.”