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February 09, 2005

Using Cameras in Chicago for Traffic

This story was carried by the Chicago Sun-Times

Los Angeles has long been known for its marathon traffic jams and Star Wars efforts to mitigate congestion.
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Daley is in Los Angeles this week learning about that city's highly-touted traffic surveillance system.
The Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control system is a network of closed-circuit cameras and traffic-detecting devices linked to a central computer that instantly adjusts stop lights at 3,000 intersections when back-ups occur.
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"It has improved traffic . . . and at this point the technology might buy you a 30 to 40 percent reduction in road delay times," he said. "Chicago, with its larger, higher-density downtown, might get a greater benefit."
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The biggest piece of Daley's traffic control plan will rely on replicating the Los Angeles system, which can automatically change traffic signal times on a second-by-second basis when needed.
The system is set up so that if automatic responses don't work, workers can call up any of the system's 200 surveillance cameras to eyeball intersection problems and dispatch police or traffic officers, said John Fisher, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles department of transportation.
The system also includes street-side sensors that keep track of how traffic affects bus on-time performance.
"It works like a scanner. When a bus arrives a little late, it will automatically get an extended green light to make it through the signals and make better time," Fisher said.
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Implementing a new traffic control system will be an expensive process that will take years to install, but Huberman, who oversees the Traffic Management Authority, says he expects it will "significantly reduce congestion in key parts of the city."
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Currently, there are 2,900 intersections with traffic signals. Only 13 percent of them are equipped to be adjusted by a remote computer.
Traffic signals on Addison Street from the Kennedy Expressway to Wrigley Field, for instance, are controlled remotely from the Chicago Transportation Department control center when there is heavy traffic on game days.
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The city already has 20 red-light cameras and 2,000 surveillance cameras -- soon to be augmented by at least 250 and maybe more, thanks to a $48 million Homeland Security grant -- linked together by a single software network.

Posted by rshah at February 9, 2005 10:35 PM

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