Smart Cameras Blog

The Sun-Time has an article with lots of information about Chicago’s plans for addressing traffic problems.

Here are some specific strategies the article mentions:

Smart traffic lights at 2,800 intersections that use computerized cameras and sensors to ”self-adjust” with traffic conditions and turn green for approaching CTA buses. Cost: $75,000 to $250,000 per intersection.

Downtown streets leading to and from expressways with dedicated lanes for high-occupancy vehicles.

Cameras that photograph vehicles using bus lanes for ticketing.

Tow trucks dispatched with police and fire vehicles to arrive within 10 minutes to move disabled vehicles and delivery trucks blocking lanes.

50 permanent message boards to detour motorists around accidents and bottlenecks.

Traffic control aides pedaling to the scene on bicycles.

Construction permits electronically mapped to deny applications when projects conflict with special events.

rshah Chicago, Traffic Congestion

From the Sun-Times:

With an eye toward “moving Chicago faster,” Mayor Daley today will take the wraps off his “Star Wars” plan to use a computerized network of cameras and sensors to reduce traffic congestion. Although the high-tech overhaul will take years to implement, Daley plans to use a $13 million federal air-quality grant to get the ball rolling. The goal is to get the first “pilot intersection” fully equipped within six months.

Ultimately, 2,818 of the 2,900 Chicago intersections with traffic signals will be linked to the new system, automatically adjusting traffic signal times when congestion demands it.

“What we’re looking at is a cutting-edge solution that will result in a significant decrease in congestion time. We’ll be the first city to have this kind of intelligent traffic system in place,” said Ron Huberman, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which includes the Traffic Management Authority.

“A lot of the technology today is focused on using cameras and sensors to identify a backlog at one intersection and turning the light green when there’s heavy traffic. Our solution is much more holistic. It’ll simultaneously feed data back from all of the intersections to a sophisticated computer system and make corrections on a global scale. Rather than turning one light and moving a driver a few blocks up, we’re looking to install a system that’s self-adjusting throughout the whole city.”

Last fall, a study by the Texas Transportation Institute concluded the average Chicago area driver frittered away 56 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic in 2002 at a cost of $520 each in time and fuel for all motorists and a whopping $985 for those who travel during rush hour. That’s the longest per-drive delay Chicago and northwest Indiana commuters have ever faced and the sixth-worst average delay in the country, the study stated.

rshah Chicago, Traffic Congestion

A nice overview article in the Chicago Tribune on using technology to improve traffic flow.

Besides covering the smart traffic lights in LA, the article talks about the six minute rule in Houston.

The idea behind Houston’s six-minute response rule for tow-truck drivers. Since Jan. 1 motorists are no longer allowed to change flat tires or let overheated engines cool off on highway shoulders. Workers monitoring traffic via closed-circuit cameras dispatch tow trucks to clear the accidents or disabled vehicles within minutes. The trucks, assigned to roam specific areas, often arrive before police.

Each minute a disabled vehicle is on the highway results in four minutes of worsening traffic backups, White said. Despite a booming automobile-centered population, commuting times have been reduced as much as 20 percent in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, officials said.

More than 360 traffic-surveillance cameras, panning more than 90 percent of the lanes on area highways, send continuous images to Houston TranStar, a high-tech operations center filled with rows of computer consoles and plasma TV screens that display accidents and traffic knots.

The 9-year-old TranStar facility and traffic equipment deployed on the roads, including about 150 electronic changeable-message signs to alert motorists about problems ahead, cost $24 million annually to operate, said TranStar spokesman Artee Jones. But he said the benefits delivered to motorists total $168 million a year in quicker commutes, less fuel consumed and cleaner air.

“In the past, 10 or 15 tow trucks would rush along the shoulder to be first to an accident scene, creating an even more dangerous situation,” she said. “And there was terrible price-gouging. Today, each tow-truck company is assigned to patrol a segment of the freeway, and the pricing is regulated.”

The tow and the service to replace the flat with a spare tire from Farrington’s trunk were paid for by the City of Houston under a new program called Safe Clear. It costs the city $50 per tow to the nearest highway exit or within 1 mile. Beyond that, motorists are on the hook for towing fees of $75 and up.

Besides Houston, the article also covers possible solutions for addressing Chicago’s traffic issues:

THE PROBLEM

Extra hours spent per traveler in traffic annually, during peak times, 2002: 56 hours

Note: Peak travel times are 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Examples of traffic-management innovations used in Los Angeles and Houston

- Roadside cameras

Generally placed at intervals along a freeway to identify incidents.

- Bus dispatch

An onboard computer communicates with a traffic-monitoring system and sends data such as the bus’ location, number of passengers and fare collection.

- Flow signals

Located on entrance ramps of freeways to provide a consistent flow of entering vehicles.

- Traffic sensors

Collect traffic information such as traffic times and speeds.

- High occupancy vehicle lanes

Designated lanes for vehicles traveling during peak periods with multiple passengers.

- Smart stoplights

Computer-based traffic signals that monitor conditions

- Motorist assistance/vehicle removal

Provide assistance such as changing a flat tire, jump-starting a vehicle, providing fuel to disabled motorists and moving stalled or disabled vehicles that disrupt traffic flow.

rshah Chicago, General, Traffic Congestion

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.

. . .

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.

. . .

“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.”

. . .

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.

. . .

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.”

. . .

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.

…

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.

rshah Chicago, Traffic Congestion