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A/I to streamline traffic signals in Bay Area
FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It almost doesn’t seem to matter the time of day; brake lights and bumper-to-bumper traffic are all too common in the Tampa Bay Area.
St. Petersburg City Council members greenlighted a project to try to help ease congestion Thursday, and they’re using artificial intelligence to do it.
Fifteen smart signals will be installed on 66th Street from Pasadena Avenue to 38th Avenue North and Tyrone Boulevard from 5th Avenue to Park Street.
The backstory:
"There's an upwards of about 40,000 vehicles a day using each of these corridors," said the city’s Transportation Manager Cheryl Stacks.
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A few of the intersections on those stretches are also routinely listed on the police department’s top 10 dangerous crash inspection reports, Stacks said.
"Those intersections are so closely spaced that congestion there can lead to significant variability in speeds and travel time consistency," Stacks said.
"Right now, what's out there is loop detection. When the cars drive over the loops, it sends a call to the traffic signal controller that, ‘Hey, there's a vehicle waiting there. You might need to give them a green light,’" Stacks said. "So, what this does is this allows for video detection. So, it'll be a camera that detects the vehicles and detects pedestrians and other roadway users and then sends the call over to the controller."
Why you should care:
She said it’ll provide more real-time conditions and better traffic management.
"If there are a lot of vehicles in a certain direction, then it will give more green time to that one particular direction. So, it can be more responsive," Stacks said.
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Buses and emergency vehicles will also have corresponding sensors onboard, giving them priority. It will extend the green light for buses or change to a red light for everyone while first responders drive through.
"A fire truck or an emergency services vehicle could let the signal know that they're approaching, such that it turns the traffic signal red for everybody, and then so that it just makes it safer for our emergency responders," Stacks said.
Big picture view:
Stacks said that eventually, the technology will be able to send real-time alerts about traffic, weather hazards and more to more and more vehicles.
"Once we get more of these onboard units and other vehicles, again, the opportunity to warn drivers that somebody may be crossing the street or that there may be something that's not obvious to them where they need to slow down a little bit," Stacks said. "If we can communicate those messages to drivers and help them change their behavior so that it makes the streets safer, that is just a huge win all around. It would be really, really meaningful for me on a personal level as someone who's been working on improving safety in St. Petersburg for a long time."
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The city’s traffic management center will also get a new video wall for this project. The old one was removed a few years ago when it stopped working.
What's next:
The project is part of a $1.16 million FDOT grant. The city pays upfront, and FDOT reimburses St. Pete. Part of the requirement is to be state roads.
Stacks said they want to see how these smart signals work and will then look into using them in other parts of the city.
The city has to use the grant by the end of the year.
The Source: FOX 13's Kailey Tracy collected the information in this story.
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